Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig wants you to believe he’s finally found clarity. In a recent Fox News op-ed, he presents himself as a long-suffering voice of reason in California’s criminal justice debate, invoking his role in the Prop 36 campaign as vindication of his “commonsense” approach to crime and punishment.
But his screed—published in the echo chamber of Fox News’ opinion pages—isn’t a bold stand for public safety. It’s a full-throated return to the same punitive, carceral logic that defined his early career. And it’s confirmation that whatever brief flirtation Reisig had with criminal justice reform is officially over.
Point in fact, Jeff Reisig didn’t just write an op-ed about crime. He used the platform of a national conservative news outlet to continue rebranding himself as the voice of Californians disillusioned with “liberal governance.”
His tone is triumphant, even smug—painting himself as the architect of a “commonsense” revolt against the decarceration movement and scolding Gov. Gavin Newsom for what he views as ideological failures.
But in doing so, Reisig reveals the truth reform advocates in Yolo County have long understood: the district attorney who once postured as a moderate willing to listen to reform voices is, at heart, a traditional tough-on-crime prosecutor. And now that the political winds are shifting, he’s shedding any remaining pretense of being anything else.
Over the past five years, Californians have watched progressive prosecutors take office in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In response, Reisig positioned himself as a “thoughtful moderate” who wasn’t quite like Chesa Boudin, but also wasn’t a hardliner.
He spoke at reform conferences. He co-authored op-eds about alternatives to incarceration. He even quietly explored “data-informed” prosecution strategies, likely inspired by national reform models.
But local advocates in Yolo County never stopped documenting how those reforms were more talk than substance. Under Reisig’s tenure, Yolo has consistently relied on felony filings, aggressive pretrial detention, and punitive sentencing practices. His office opposed resentencing petitions under new California laws, fought to keep youth and people with mental illness in adult court, and leveraged enhancements and three-strikes sentencing tools long after other counties pulled back.
Now, he’s done pretending. In the Fox News piece, Reisig proudly celebrates the passage of Prop 36—a ballot initiative designed to roll back reforms and impose harsher penalties for repeat theft, drug offenses, and fentanyl sales.
What he doesn’t say is that Prop 36 will almost certainly exacerbate the mass incarceration crisis it claims to solve, while undermining decades of evidence-based policy gains in California.
What makes Reisig’s op-ed especially insidious is the way he recasts carceral policies as a populist uprising. He frames Prop 36 as a righteous backlash against “equity and compassion,” calling California’s justice reforms “an indictment of liberal governance.” With zero irony, he claims drug addiction and retail theft are the result of “decriminalization,” as though the root causes of poverty, addiction, and social collapse can be solved with another felony charge.
Let’s take a moment to unpack that. The vast majority of people arrested for low-level theft or fentanyl possession are not part of an international crime syndicate, as Reisig melodramatically suggests. They are often people experiencing homelessness, poverty, or addiction—problems that decades of punishment have failed to solve. If Reisig had spent more time studying public health or social services, he might realize that jailing people for being poor doesn’t actually make communities safer.
But in his telling, criminal justice reform is a failed “experiment” that left Californians “stepping over needles” and “fearing for their safety.” This is the same tired narrative that fueled the War on Drugs in the 1980s, drove mass incarceration in the 1990s, and justified the surveillance and criminalization of Black and brown communities for decades. It didn’t work then. It won’t work now.
Perhaps the most alarming part of Reisig’s Fox News moment is what it signals about his political trajectory. Rather than focusing on Yolo County, where his office oversees a relatively low-crime, college-town jurisdiction, Reisig has increasingly inserted himself into statewide and national conversations. He’s become a vocal critic of reform prosecutors. He’s taken up the talking points of conservative think tanks. Now, he’s leveraging his role in Prop 36 to claim a mandate from voters across California.
But what Reisig really wants is influence—beyond Woodland or Davis, beyond even California. His Fox News piece is less about policy than it is about identity. He’s declaring his allegiance in the national culture war over crime, casting himself as a champion of the “silent majority” fed up with progressive failure. And in doing so, he’s laying the groundwork for higher office, conservative donor backing, or both.
While Reisig positions himself as a national thought leader, Yolo County continues to grapple with the consequences of his policies. Black and brown residents are still disproportionately targeted and prosecuted. Pretrial incarceration remains high. Diversion programs are limited, especially for those without strong legal advocacy. And despite statewide reforms, Yolo continues to lag behind other counties in implementing true second chances.
Most damning, perhaps, is Reisig’s ongoing resistance to resentencing efforts—even for people who have served decades and demonstrated rehabilitation. Rather than acknowledging the human cost of extreme sentences, he continues to invoke victims and public safety as justification for perpetual punishment. There is no room in his worldview for transformation—only retribution.
Reisig’s return to form is not just a personal pivot. It’s part of a national effort to roll back the gains of criminal justice reform. Across the country, conservative prosecutors, media outlets, and politicians are seizing on public frustration—often stoked by sensational headlines and viral videos—to call for a return to policies that we know caused enormous harm.
California cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. Reform is not about ignoring crime. It’s about acknowledging what actually works: investment in communities, access to treatment, prevention over punishment, and a system that sees people as more than the worst thing they’ve done.
Reisig may feel vindicated by Prop 36, but one ballot measure doesn’t erase the failures of mass incarceration. And it doesn’t change the fact that the DA who once promised a new path is now back on the same old road—paved with prisons, fearmongering, and political ambition.
“His tone is triumphant, even smug—painting himself as the architect of a “commonsense” revolt against the decarceration movement and scolding Gov. Gavin Newsom for what he views as ideological failures.”
He should sound triumphant.
“Over the past five years, Californians have watched progressive prosecutors take office in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.”
And what happened to them? Oh that’s right, the voters kicked them all out of office because of their progressive policies.
“But his screed”
screed?
“What makes Reisig’s op-ed especially insidious”
insidious?
“Most damning”
damning?
Were you highly ticked off when you wrote this article?
No, that’s the norm
“politicians are seizing on public frustration—often stoked by sensational headlines and viral videos—to call for a return to policies that we know caused enormous harm.”
From reading some of the recent accounts of people in downtown Davis feeling scared and frustrated I doubt that they feel it’s being sensationalized.
https://www.davisite.org/2025/04/davis-leaders-must-stop-protecting-criminals-from-law-enforcement-and-start-protecting-women-from-violence.html
KO: “I doubt that they feel it’s being sensationalized.”
We’re just supposed to take it. That’s what we get for living in or visiting District 3.
What is Reisig going to run for in 2026?
His term isn’t up until 2028