After a closely watched campaign roiled by a national reckoning with race, George Gascón assumed the post of District Attorney in Los Angeles County on Dec. 7. The former San Francisco D.A. now oversees the largest county prosecutorial body in the country and the largest jail system in the world.
In an inaugural address both personal and data-heavy, Gascón laid out a paradigmatically different vision of law enforcement and the carceral system from that of his predecessor. Making good on the promises of his campaign, he announced a number of immediate and sweeping changes to items like cash bail and the death penalty. Though the City of Beverly Hills cast a majority of ballots for incumbent Jackie Lacey, Gascón offered an olive branch to all stakeholders in improving the system.
