Giving Meaning to Justice, Commonwealth Club of California

 

Thanks to the Commonwealth Club for its kind invitation. It is always a pleasure to be here, and I am honored that so many of you came here tonight.

We talk about giving meaning to justice and the need for justice in many contexts—civil rights, fairness and equality, and doing the right and fair thing.

I’d like to talk tonight about giving meaning to justice in the context of the basic human right to live in a safe community. A community free from violence.

By the way, to have a conversation about justice in terms of living in safe community, we must talk about our poorest communities, communities of color, and specific geographic areas of our City—the Bayview, Hunter’s Point, Visitacion Valley, the Western Addition, and the Mission.

So, just as defined by living in safe community, these days, the immediate and obvious threat is the surge of homicides and the prevalence of gun violence.

One symbol of all civilized societies is the simple rule: one shall not kill.

And this is more than a purely intellectual concept.

I have sat with the families of murder victims in my office.

Violence is wiping out an entire generation of young people in San Francisco.

And at the heart of the traumatic violence is the long-standing problem of illegal guns.

When we make real the idea of having safe communities, we must crack down on illegal guns, since guns are involved in nearly every homicide in our City.

Finally, the long-term challenge is (1) reconnecting the isolated communities where this violence is occurring every year and (2) holding accountable former offenders returning to these communities.

These are tremendous challenges, but this is a tremendous City.

San Francisco has a legacy of solving problems.

We innovate, we get together, and we overcome great challenges.

One of the first steps is having conversations like these.

Our First Priority Is the Tragedy of Homicides in San Francisco

I’d like to share information that I have about this tragedy.

There were 96 homicides in San Francisco in 2005, the most in a decade, up from 88 in 2004.

Other cities experienced a similar tragedy.

40 homicides in Richmond, a city of less than 100,000 people.

94 homicides in Oakland, a city of 400,000 people.

76 homicides in Boston, a city of 600,000.

Black Murder Victims in San Francisco.

The victims are overwhelmingly African-American and living in our City’s poorest neighborhoods.

114 out of 184 murder victims over the last 2 years were African Americans. (62%)

Nearly 60% of all homicide victims were black men, even though black men are less than 5% of the City’s population.

Nearly all of these black men were under 30.

Murders of Latinos increased by 50% last year.

Nearly 70% of the murders occurred in 4 neighborhoods, including Bayview/Hunter’s Point, Visitacion Valley, Ingleside and Western Addition.

Quarter of all murders just in Bayview/Hunter’s Point alone, even though about it has only 4% of the City’s population.

Nearly 40% of Bayview/Hunter’s Point households have incomes below $15,000/year.

In addition to understanding who is impacted, we need to acknowledge the frustration in those communities.

There is frustration about the impact of the violence, but also because so many murders remain unsolved.

143 out of 184 murders are unsolved.

143 families are waiting for justice.

The murderers of 143 people are walking among us.

This is where we are today, so let’s have a conversation about what we can do about it.

Illegal Guns Are At the Heart of the Violence

85% of homicides in 2005 involved a gun, up from 60% in 2001.

We must crack down on illegal guns because they are at the heart of the violence.

It is a simple but not obvious point: guns kill people.

Illegal gun possession directly correlates to an increase in gun violence and homicide.

Recent Columbia and Harvard studies suggest that wide availability of illegal guns = guns being used more often = more deaths.

To deal with this problem, we have implemented a Five-Point Plan to get illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals.

First, we are raising conviction rates.

The Office has nearly doubled the conviction rate on felony gun cases at trial, from about 43% in 2003, to 84% in 2004 and 84% in 2005.

The Office took 35% more gun cases to trial in 2004 than in 2003, and maintained that level in 2005.

Second, we are dedicating new resources to prosecute gun crimes

With the assistance of the United States Attorney, secured the release of $400,000 in federal funding to combat juvenile gun crime and prosecute adults who furnish guns to minors. (Project Sentry.)

Third, we are Increasing Penalties for Illegal Guns.

Created tough, new gun charging and sentencing policies.

Created a team of prosecutors to specialize in gun crimes.

Fourth, we are requiring tighter supervision of probationers

After people are convicted of gun and gangs crimes, we are making sure they are strictly supervised on probation. For example, gang members must “stay away” from their old turf, and gang members must register with SFPD, so the police know what these guys are up to.

Fifth, we are working with the community to prevent violence.

Worked with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to secure $900,000 in federal funding for an immediate and coordinated response to violence in the Mission District, Bayview, and Visitacion Valley.

Our community partners go right to the victims’ families and friends to intervene before there is retaliation and escalation.

Our Five-Point Plan has had success, but we have to do much more.

We are coordinating with Alameda County law enforcement around gang members who come to San Francisco to sell drugs and commit violent crimes.

We added new prosecutors to our Gang Unit.

We added a new gang prosecutor added to the juvenile division. We are sharing intelligence and information about gang activity, so we can better prosecute violent gangs.

As part of our Office’s services to victims, we are hiring counselors to focus on youth victims of violence.

We need to stop young people from getting guns to protect themselves after they are victimized.

These are things we are doing in the short-term to impact the violence and protect our right to live in a safe community.

Our long-term challenge is reconnecting the communities where this violence occurs year after year, and the young adults at-risk in those communities.

We know that the violence occurs in the same communities year after year—Bayview, Western Addition, and Mission.

These communities are disconnected from the City and its institutions. We have to re-engage them in the life of the City.

We must start with young adults who are returning to these communities after incarceration.

These young adults are most at-risk of re-offending and becoming entangled in gangs and violence, either as a perpetrator or a victim.

According to state statistics, 60% returning from state prison will re-offend within 2 years.

Recidivism is incredibly costly, both for the communities who suffer from repeated crime and the City that must incarcerate the offenders.

For long-term results, we must make an investment in these communities and young adults.

In the DA’s Office, we are making the investment, so former offenders do not return to the streets in these communities.

BOT focuses on first-time, low-level drug sellers.

Young people who have no history of violence or gangs, but they are at-risk.

Back On Track uses the Carrot and Stick approach.

Carrot is getting a new life and getting a job.

The Stick is you go back to jail.

The concept of accountability is the key to BOT.

To get into BOT, you must admit that you are guilty. You must work full-time or be in school full-time.

We invest in the participants’ success.

Reconnecting them with their children.

A lot of these young people have 2-3 kids already.

Education: We created a path to college with our partnerships with City College and Academy of Art University.

Work: Our partner Goodwill Industries offers our participants full-time jobs.

Wells Fargo: Getting their credit cleaned up and getting bank accounts.

Early Success of BOT. Through our program, we are reducing recidivism to less than 10% among participants.

Why is BOT a good investment for law enforcement, for my Office?

Part of the problem is that our poorest communities do not trust law enforcement.

Witnesses are reluctant to come forward.

143 murders over the last two years are unsolved.

By investing in our communities and reconnecting them with the City and its institutions, we can begin to build trust with law enforcement.

When we have trust, we are winning in the courtroom.

Over the last two years:

90% conviction rate at trial in homicide cases.

40% more violent and serious offenders to state prison.

Increased felony trial convictions from 63% in 2003 to 79% in 2004 and 78% in 2005.

There is much more work to do, but I find promise and hope in the results we have achieved thus far.

We can and will do better because justice demands better of us.

Together, I know we can and will give meaning to justice in San Francisco.