The Yolo County District Attorney’s press release on the sentencing of Joaquin Hernandez-Meneses is a prime example of how the criminal legal system prioritizes spectacle over substance, using the fentanyl crisis as a political cudgel rather than an opportunity for meaningful public health intervention.
Let’s start with the facts: Hernandez-Meneses was sentenced to 16 years in “local prison”—which, in reality, means he will serve his time in a county jail rather than a state prison. The DA’s office goes out of its way to emphasize that, had his crime been committed a mere month later, he would have been mandated to serve his sentence in state prison due to the passage of Proposition 36.
This framing is telling. The DA’s office is not merely reporting on a conviction; it is lamenting that this individual will be incarcerated in a local facility rather than a state facility, as if the distinction between two forms of prolonged confinement is what will deter future drug trafficking.
The DA’s rhetoric also follows a well-worn path: invoking the number of potential deaths fentanyl “could have led to” rather than addressing the deeper realities of the drug crisis.
We are told that “one pill can kill,” yet there is no acknowledgment of the systemic factors fueling the fentanyl epidemic—demand, addiction, and the failure of punitive drug policies to actually curb the supply of dangerous substances.
The DA’s office is quick to tout its “aggressive” prosecutions of drug traffickers, but what it fails to mention is that decades of aggressive prosecution in the War on Drugs have done little to stem the flow of illicit substances.
This case also underscores the troubling way in which law enforcement continues to rely on dubious police tactics.
The involvement of a Sacramento County Sheriff’s canine unit in a routine traffic stop raises questions about pretextual policing—where minor vehicle code violations serve as a gateway for broader criminal investigations.
Time and time again, drug-sniffing dogs have been shown to provide officers with a convenient pretext for conducting invasive searches, with courts historically giving police wide latitude in these scenarios.
Was Hernandez-Meneses stopped because of an actual public safety concern, or was he just another target in a long-running game of highway interdiction?
Moreover, the prosecution of Hernandez-Meneses follows a familiar pattern in which drug couriers—often people with little power in larger trafficking networks—receive severe sentences while those who profit the most from the drug trade remain untouched.
The DA’s office presents this case as a victory for public safety, but it fails to ask the deeper question: will incarcerating one individual for 16 years actually prevent fentanyl from flooding communities, or will it simply reinforce a cycle of punishment that has long failed to address the root causes of substance use and trafficking?
The fentanyl crisis is real, and it is devastating communities. But the response to it cannot simply be more of the same: longer prison sentences, more dog-assisted traffic stops, and more press releases touting “aggressive” prosecutions.
If the DA’s office truly wanted to keep the public safe, it would focus less on performative toughness and more on harm reduction, addiction treatment, and strategies that address why fentanyl has become so pervasive in the first place.
Until we move past the politics of fear and embrace policies rooted in evidence and public health, press releases like this will continue to be little more than self-congratulatory announcements that do nothing to stop the cycle of addiction and incarceration.
DG say: “The Yolo County District Attorney’s press release on the sentencing of Joaquin Hernandez-Meneses is a prime example of how the criminal legal system prioritizes spectacle over substance”
And your article is a prime example of placing criminal over victims.
DG say: ” using the fentanyl crisis as a political cudgel rather than an opportunity for meaningful public health intervention.”
Using the DG hates Reisig crisis as a political cudgel rather than an opportunity for meaningful carceration.
DG say: “The DA’s office is quick to tout its “aggressive” prosecutions of drug traffickers, but what it fails to mention is that decades of aggressive prosecution in the War on Drugs have done little to stem the flow of illicit substances.”
And the last several years of defund the police and decarcerate the criminals hasn’t helped much either.
“If incarceration could make us safer, the United States would be the safest nation in the world”
Victoria Law notes that despite having only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. holds 20 to 25% of its prisoners, yet this has not resulted in being the safest nation.
Neither has the progressive DA movement