California bill would require racial bias in prison sentencing
Hudson Crozier
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A little-known bill that passed the California State Assembly in May would make liberal victimhood ideology the law of the land in the state.
The state Senate is now considering Assembly Bill 852, which would require judges to “consider the disparate impact on historically disenfranchised and system-impacted populations” when deciding prison sentences. Consistent with the view that statistical disparities are automatic evidence of a racist system, judges would be giving black convicts lighter punishments than white convicts for the same crimes.
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The two-paragraph bill does not specify how a judge may arrive at the conclusion that a black convict is oppressed. It only tells judges to “rectify the racial bias that has historically permeated our criminal justice system.” It’s unclear what, if anything, would limit this wide discretion.
Partiality in the justice system is certainly a bad thing. That’s why the United States Sentencing Commission convened decades ago to address it at the federal level. Congress tried to strike a balance between blanket standards and the role of judges to assess the nuances of every case. Federal judges may adjust the prescribed sentence for a crime based on appropriate factors, such as how likely the criminal is to re-offend or how much suffering the crime caused. Irrelevant characteristics such as skin color are out of the picture.
To many Democrats, however, color is not irrelevant and systemic racial bias is good. The leniency they wish to afford some criminals stems from the immoral, irrational idea that suffering excuses people of wrongdoing and that dark skin alone is evidence of that suffering.
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When leaders treat the justice system as a victimizer, it creates real suffering for real victims. Just consider the two women killed in a hit-and-run on New Year’s Eve 2020 by Troy McAlister, a repeat offender who was out on probation. McAlister’s three prior theft convictions should have earned him life in prison under California’s three-strikes law and kept him off of the streets. But the black criminal became a beneficiary of former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s “reforms,” one of which barred prosecutors from pursuing three-strikes cases due to racial disparities.
California voters repaid Boudin for his destructive leadership last year by recalling him. If their state senators and governor have any sense, they will reject Assembly Bill 582, which would bring more widespread and lasting damage. Criminals are not victims. The people they hurt are. This doesn’t have to be partisan.
Hudson Crozier is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.