Greenberg: Three Years Since Chesa Boudin’s Ouster

In June 2022, San Francisco voters delivered a resounding rebuke to Chesa Boudin’s tenure as District Attorney, recalling him with 60% favoring removal. Boudin’s extremist anti-cop, decarceration ideology—epitomized by his day-one proclamation to not prosecute “quality of life” crimes like shoplifting, catalytic converter theft, public intoxication, prostitution and loitering—set a catastrophic precedent and plunged our city into chaos, emboldening criminals far and wide and eroding public safety. His policies, embraced by his hand-picked staff and a vocal cadre of local voters, turned San Francisco into a cautionary tale of unabashed progressive failure.

This week, we mark the three-year anniversary of Chesa Boudin’s historic removal from office, one of the most profound events to unfold in San Francisco.

With nearly 100 local and national media appearances on TV, radio, and in print, yours truly worked tirelessly, galvanizing the recall movement, exposing Boudin’s failures to a broad audience. And since Brooke Jenkins took over in July 2022, the DA’s office has made remarkable strides in reversing Boudin’s disaster, restoring accountability, and rebuilding trust in a criminal justice system derailed by Boudin’s radical vision. This proves that pragmatic, meaningful and accountability-centric governance can triumph over rogue and ideological recklessness.

By refusing to prosecute offenses like shoplifting under $950—enabled by California’s Proposition 47—Chesa Boudin signaled to criminals that theft and public disorder would face no consequences. The results were stark and immediate: property crimes exploded, with SFPD data reporting wave after wave of smash-and-grab thefts and car break-ins starting in 2020. In 2021, retail thefts in Union Square drove stores large and small to close in rapid succession, as shoplifters operated with impunity. In The Tenderloin, residents navigated sidewalks littered with needles and human waste. Boudin’s staff, steeped in his same anti-cop, decarceration dogma, prioritized “reform” over results, offering lenient plea deals that left victims essentially abandoned. [https://www.kron4.com/video/sf-da-recall-proponent-responds-to-boudin-interview/7670980 ]

Many San Francisco voters, initially swayed by Boudin’s progressive promises, watched helplessly as their neighborhoods became playgrounds for crime. Boudin’s rhetoric vilifying police alienated SFPD, undermining cooperation essential for public safety.

Boudin’s approach shocked residents, even in progressive San Francisco. Longtime community advocates criticized Boudin for failing to hold serious and violent repeat offenders accountable, arguing that vulnerable populations suffered most.

What greatly helped the success leading up to the recall were efforts by local activists and community advocates highlighting Boudin’s failures; passionate commentary reached millions, framing Boudin’s “restorative justice” as the hoax it was — a clear, pro-criminal agenda — that endangered San Franciscans. Relentless media presence kept the recall effort in the spotlight and ensured voters saw Boudin’s policies as a “bait and switch,” rallying even lifelong Democrats to the cause.

On June 7th, 2022, as the first returns rolled in after 9pm local time, cheers were heard around the city: in homes, in bars with patrons’ eyes glue to TVs, in law enforcement offices, all while reporters who descended on the city to cover the event scrambled to report the news to the world. Chesa Boudin was done.

Enter Brooke Jenkins, experienced prosecutor, an actual prosecutor, was appointed by then-Mayor London Breed as Boudin’s replacement, and elected by voters in November 2022. Jenkins promised a return to common-sense prosecution, and she has delivered. SFPD data shows a significant drop in overall crime from 2022 onward, with property crime falling an estimated 31% in 2024 alone. In the Mission District, once plagued by car break-ins, residents report substantially fewer incidents, a direct result of Jenkins’ focus on targeting and prosecuting repeat offenders. By tackling crimes Boudin dismissed as mere “quality of life” issues, Jenkins has restored order to streets once overrun by chaos. The rule of law must protect the innocent and deter the lawless. It’s really not that difficult to understand.

Jenkins has also mended the fractured relationship with SFPD. This was pivotal, because Boudin’s obsession with prosecuting police demoralized officers and disrupted effective policing. His police accountability division became a weapon that alienated SFPD, yet cases he brought against officers stalled and failed under court scrutiny. Jenkins turned to focusing on prosecuting street criminals. Her collaboration with SFPD commenced in 2023 a coordinated crackdown on retail theft rings, yielding significant arrests in both number and effectiveness.

Internally, Jenkins tackled the mass DAs office dysfunction Boudin left behind. His policies drove away over 50 attorneys—nearly a third of the prosecutors’ office—due to plummeting morale. Jenkins stabilized operations, launching training programs to boost retention.

Chesa Boudin’s radical ideology treated incarceration, essentially any incarceration, as unjust, thereby creating a revolving door for offenders. Jenkins, by contrast, targets drug trafficking and retail theft, recognizing that accountability restores safety.

San Francisco’s challenges—homelessness, addiction, and crime—persist, but with Boudin long gone, focus turns to address root causes more effectively than Boudin’s failed approach.

George Soros’ Role

Chesa Boudin and other so-called “rogue” or progressive prosecutors in California and around the country (including those backed by billionaire George Soros), have been associated with a movement to reform the criminal justice system. Their policies have disrupted traditional approaches to law enforcement, leading to spikes in crime rates and public safety outcries.

George Soros, through his Open Society Foundations and associated political action committees (PACs), has funded numerous progressive prosecutors across the U.S. since 2015, investing over $40 million in district attorney races to promote candidates who support decarceration, bail reform, and alternatives to prosecution. Notable Soros-backed DAs include Kim Gardner (St. Louis), Marilyn Mosby (Baltimore), George Gascon (Los Angeles), John Creuzot (Dallas) and Alvin Bragg (Manhattan) with their similar policies leading to criticism for spiking crime rates and prosecutorial nullification (refusing to prosecute entire categories of crimes). Many faced backlash, with Gardner, Gascon and Mosby resigning or losing elections.

Moreover, Soros’s significant financial contributions—often dwarfing local campaign budgets—have been criticized as overwhelming local elections, allowing lesser-known rogue candidates to win with minimal voter support. Soros-funded prosecutors are accused of demoralizing police by treating them as criminals and refusing to prosecute cases, leading to reduced arrests and strained police-prosecutor relations.

Friends, Chesa Boudin’s recall is a true turning point, a public backlash against progressive prosecutors. Boudin’s ouster and others (like Alameda County DA Pamela Price more recently) marks a shift toward rightfully restoring law and order by prioritizing prosecution of violent and property crimes, rebuilding police trust, and addressing public safety concerns as they should be. We’ve suffered enough.