January Meeting Report: Continuing to Reimagine Criminal Justice

By Fraser Perkins —

Guide to January 2022 Meeting of the Palos Verdes Democratic Club

The January meeting of the Palos Verdes Democrats was held by Zoom on January 16, 2022.  The theme was Continuing to Reimagine Criminal Justice and our featured speakers were Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Tom Long, Deputy Attorney General for the CA Department of Justice (DOJ) Paul Seo, and Max Szabo of Szabo and Associates and spokesperson for LA County DA George Gascón.

The time refers to the time locations in the video below. 

00:00  Introduction of Superior Court Judge Tom Long

02:02  Criminal justice system and cash bail

09:54  Court system infrastructure

12:08  Follow-up question on zero dollar bail

14:07  Introduction of Max Szabo founder of Szabo and Associates

14:55   Proposition 47

19:46   Felony drug possession

22:20   LA County reforms

28:13  Introduction of Paul Seo, Deputy Attorney General for the California DOJ

29:42  Officer Involved Shootings

38:16  Panel Q&A

38:45  Sentencing enhancements

48:25  Financial incentives in DA’s office

50:16  Racial incarceration rates

53:20  Relationship between money bail system and the criminalization of poverty

1:01:1  Disparity of Sentencing Between Judicial Jurisdictions

1:02:29  “Zip Code” justice

1:05:44  Enhancements and firearms

1:07:35  Police union contributions to judicial candidates

Closing Remarks

1:17:00  Tom Long

1:18:30  Max Szabo

1:20:50  Paul Seo

 

Here are the links posted by Max Szabo in Chat during the discussion:

– This link lists the policies of the LA County DA’s Office:  https://da.lacounty.gov/policies

– This link is about why prosecutors can’t be sued.  SCOTUS has given prosecutors absolute immunity from lawsuits:    https://nationalpolicesupportfund.com/qualified-immunity-vs-absolute-immunity-whats-the-difference/#:~:text=Absolute%20immunity%20provides%20legal%20protection,criminal%20prosecution%20and%20civil%20lawsuits.