By Every four years voters in Los Angeles County choose a new or incumbent district attorney. The 2024 election asks voters to choose between two candidates: current DA George Gascón and criminal defense attorney Nathan Hochman.
Since Long Beach State students are, for the most part, commuters from different areas of the county, crime is incredibly relevant in the race for district attorney.
Elected in 2020 as district attorney, the most up-to-date information on crime during Gascón’s term shows peaks and valleys. For example, in the City of Los Angeles crimes against persons between Sept. 1 to Oct. 26 showed homicide dipped 22.2%, rape decreased by 15.9%, robbery increased by 3.3% and aggravated assaults went down by 8.8%. Property crime in LA County, specifically burglary/breaking and entering, went up in the same time period by 1.6%.
For Long Beach, crime data for 2023-2024 showed residential burglary increased by 21.1%. Murder went up by 82.4%, grand theft was down by 24.1%, while petty theft, under $950, was up in the same time period by 16.4%
The Long Beach Current sat down and spoke with both Gascón and Hochman on Oct. 29.
George Gascón
Gascón grew up in Cudahy and recalled how when the Sheriff’s department would be in his area, the common thing was to run the opposite direction. After returning from military service, he became a police officer. Given his childhood and background, Gascón says he understands both sides of the equation and recognizes that brown and Black people have not been treated well by the criminal justice system.
This is why Gascón says he has a passion for being smart on tackling crime, but also understands the issue of systemic racism. Holding the system accountable, both police and prosecutors, is key.
Gascón said students and people of color should look at the work that has been done over the last few years. Under his leadership, the District Attorney’s office stopped seeking the death penalty, stopped sending juveniles to adult court and law enforcement and the district attorneys are being held accountable, according to Gascón.
“We have, the first in the state, racial justice unit, right, to address the impact of race in the system both retroactively and prospectively. We created a labor justice unit to address wage theft that impacts so many people in the brown and Black community,” Gascón said.
Gascón said he understands negative feelings towards police and prosecutors and he agrees they are completely justified. Having said that, he believes it is important to also understand that getting involved is vital. Students need to vote, and according to Gascón, his opponent would take the county back to mass incarceration and a lack of accountability for law enforcement.
Nathan Hochman
Hochman said students should know he is the first district attorney who will have been both a prosecutor and a defense attorney. This means he understands both sides of the court. His perspective is that the pendulum for the DA office has swung too far to the left. Things like decarceration, something Hochman said Gascón ascribes to, or mass incarceration won’t be on the table. There is a middle ground he refers to as the “hard middle.”
The hard middle is part of three things Hochman believes a district attorney should be focused on while doing the job. The first part is catching the attention of middle and high schoolers to impress upon them the severity of committing crimes and the consequences that come with committing them.
The second part is the “hard middle,” which is about creating accountability and keeping that proportional. Hochman said it will be different from Gascón’s current approach, which he said is Gascón pretending things aren’t happening.
The last part is focused on prisoners and the current recidivism issues. In an effort to decrease that recidivism rate, or tendency of offenders to reoffend, Hochman wants to try and implement a program called The Last Mile. This program is working towards stopping the cycle prisoners go through by providing prisoners with training in areas like audio and video production and web development.
According to Hochman the criminal justice system should serve people. Hochman hopes that when students look at the criminal justice system, they see a fair system.
“They will see a system that is really working hard to look at all the factors in any particular case to reach the right result, that welcomes their input,” he said.
Hochman said creating a consistent, fair and impartial enforcement of the laws would be key. Filling the prisons to the breaking point would be a failure of the criminal justice system and is not what he wants
Check out their campaign websites to learn more about LA County candidates for district attorney George Gascón and Nathan Hochman.
