California’s criminal justice landscape has long been shaped by reactionary law-and-order politics, with some of the loudest voices coming from elected prosecutors eager to cast themselves as defenders of public safety.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig has long occupied this space while giving lipservice to reform efforts, but his recent appearance alongside Assembly Republicans at a press conference decrying so-called “soft on crime” policies only reaffirms his true priorities: stoking fear, demonizing reforms, and preserving a failed system of mass incarceration.
Reisig, who has made a career out of opposing meaningful criminal justice reform even as he hints about supporting some reform policies, this week stood alongside a group of Republican lawmakers and law enforcement officials to push a narrative that California is spiraling into lawlessness.
Their solution? The same tired rhetoric of “tough-on-crime” policies that have disproportionately harmed communities of color, criminalized poverty, and filled prisons while doing little to actually improve public safety.
For years, Reisig has carefully cultivated an image of a “moderate” prosecutor, but his actions tell a different story. His opposition to progressive reforms, his willingness to align himself with far-right law-and-order politicians, and his consistent resistance to any meaningful efforts to reduce incarceration expose him as yet another prosecutor more interested in political ambition than in actual justice.
Reisig was one of the loudest critics of Prop 47, the voter-approved initiative that reduced certain nonviolent drug and theft offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, despite overwhelming evidence that the measure has saved taxpayers money and has not led to the crime waves that conservatives claim. Instead of acknowledging that reforms like Prop 47 and Prop 36 have reduced the state’s bloated prison population without endangering public safety, Reisig continues to push misleading narratives that equate decarceration with lawlessness.
His attendance at this Republican-led event, alongside figures like Assemblyman Tom Lackey, who has accused Democrats of “endangering families” through criminal justice reforms, makes clear where Reisig stands. He is not an independent prosecutor concerned with justice; he is a political actor deeply embedded in the right-wing machinery of fear-based policymaking.
Reisig’s presence at an event that bemoaned legislative efforts to reconsider life-without-parole sentences is particularly telling. The notion that people who have been incarcerated for decades should never have a chance at redemption flies in the face of everything we know about rehabilitation and the failings of our criminal justice system. But for Reisig and his allies, maintaining California’s punitive sentencing laws is more important than recognizing that people can and do change.
Beyond his opposition to sentencing reforms, Reisig has a long track record of policies that criminalize poverty and homelessness. Under his leadership, Yolo County has aggressively prosecuted unhoused people for minor offenses, often funneling them into a system that offers punishment instead of support. In a time when housing insecurity and addiction are on the rise, Reisig’s approach remains the same: use the criminal legal system as a blunt instrument rather than advocating for real solutions like affordable housing, mental health care, and substance use treatment.
Reisig has also made a name for himself as a staunch opponent of progressive district attorneys who are actually trying to change the system from within. He has aligned himself with the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA), an organization that has fought tooth and nail against virtually every criminal justice reform effort in the state.
When progressive prosecutors like George Gascón in Los Angeles and Chesa Boudin in San Francisco sought to implement policies aimed at reducing mass incarceration, Reisig and the CDAA were among the loudest voices opposing them.
His opposition to reform is not just about policy—it is deeply ideological. Reisig represents the old guard of prosecutors who believe in the myth that locking more people up makes communities safer, despite decades of evidence proving otherwise. He clings to the outdated notion that justice is best served through harsh sentences and the unchecked power of prosecutors, rather than through investment in communities and addressing the root causes of crime.
If Reisig and his Republican allies were truly concerned about public safety, they would be advocating for policies that have been proven to work: violence prevention programs, alternatives to incarceration, and investments in communities that have been devastated by decades of over-policing and mass incarceration. Instead, they continue to use fear as a weapon, pushing for policies that have already been shown to fail.
The biggest threats to public safety are not progressive reforms or efforts to reconsider harsh sentencing laws. The real threats are poverty, a lack of mental health services, economic inequality, and the continued failure of politicians like Reisig to address these systemic issues in any meaningful way.
Reisig’s participation in the Assembly Republican press conference is just the latest reminder that he is more interested in political posturing than in real solutions. His fearmongering does nothing to make Californians safer, but it does serve one purpose: keeping him and his tough-on-crime allies in power
“When progressive prosecutors like George Gascón in Los Angeles and Chesa Boudin in San Francisco sought to implement policies aimed at reducing mass incarceration”
So whatever happened to Gascon and Boudin?
Oh, that’s right, the people voted them out.
I had the same thought when I read that line.
Yess Matt, Boudin’s and Gascon’s policies were so great that they got tossed out of office.
Maybe they can start a podcast together?
From article: “If Reisig and his Republican allies were truly concerned about public safety, they would be advocating for policies that have been proven to work: violence prevention programs, alternatives to incarceration, and investments in communities that have been devastated by decades of over-policing and mass incarceration.”
Show us where that has worked.