“We’re centralizing the decision-making process to ensure that the same conduct leads to similar results regardless of where a crime occurs in Los Angeles County,” Gascon said in a written statement. “Consistency in the initial case evaluation and filing is essential to achieving equal justice for all people in our county.”
Centralized filing metrics will be developed and studies will be conducted to measure progress, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Criminal cases in the Antelope Valley, downtown Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, and Van Nuys began being filed using the new centralized system Monday, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Case filings will be centralized by January in the Compton, Pomona, El Monte, West Covina, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Torrance and Inglewood courthouses, followed by the Airport, Long Beach, Norwalk, Bellflower, Downey, Metropolitan, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank and Alhambra courthouses around March 1.
Roughly 680 cases a day are presented for filing consideration by law enforcement agencies. Most are reviewed and either filed or declined for criminal prosecution by deputy district attorneys assigned to the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center and branch and area courthouses throughout Los Angeles County. They will continue to work in local courthouses but report to the Head Deputy District Attorney of the Charge Evaluation Division.
Cases submitted for evaluation to specialized units, such as the Family Violence and Community Violence Reduction divisions, will continue to be reviewed for filing consideration by the same deputy district attorneys who handle all aspects of the case from filing to disposition.
Centralized filing metrics will be developed and studies will be conducted to measure progress.
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How far we’ve fallen says
Get ready for a big increase in crime in the AV and everywhere else. Filings are now based on identity politics and the criminal class knows it. LA County doesn’t have a District Attorney, it has a bought off idealogical buffoon. Cases are given away in downtown Los Angeles, and it started in the AV in February.
The DA leadership doesn’t believe in public safety, they think they’re immune from violence and are lazy. Sad to say it will only get worse. Be careful and don’t go out alone if you can avoid it.
Tim Scott says
Daft fearmongering?
Tim Scott says
Wrecks and his handpicked cronies at the local courthouse are not going to like this. Cue some sort of uproar generated by his media team. Ten to one odds that Barger weighs in on how the AV is a “unique environment that needs local autonomy” in an effort to keep the corrupt decisions made on Avenue M from being reviewed.
Rich661 says
Can you explain what Gascon is doing? I don’t think I understand and AV is doing it first so can you explain it as an example or just easier to understand please?
Tim Scott says
The purpose is pretty simple. Under the previous DA each courthouse ADA ran their own little fiefdom. So you could look at two cases with similar defendants, similar circumstances, and similar evidence, and get very different approaches by the prosecution. Under those conditions you have a very hard time identifying corruption, because when you say “Why did you let this slide in this court while this case in this other court looks the same and they hammered the guy?” you get “we are just different here” and can’t really prove otherwise.
By making prosecution decisions based on county wide policies you eliminate some of the cover that is used and make the corrupt decisions easier to see. As with basically every form of local government corruption, the AV is the leading corner of the county.