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Woke LA DA George Gascón slammed for plans to drop criminal charges against juvenile felons

The Los Angeles DA was pushing a program called 'Restorative Enhanced Diversion for Youth' (REDY), to be expanded to cover a range of felony charges

A leaked memo revealed that Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is expanding a program to drop criminal proceedings against juveniles charged with a range of felonies, which caused outrage across social media. 

The program called the "Restorative Enhanced Diversion for Youth" (REDY), launched just last month, is now being expanded to cover a range of felony charges, according to the memo obtained by KTTV reporter Bill Melugin. According to the memo, criminal youth would be eligible for 'diversion' after being charged with burglary, assault, vehicle theft, robbery, grand theft person, sexual battery, and arson. The type of felonies that would remain ineligible for diversion, include homicide, forcible rape, gun crimes, and crimes resulting in serious injuries.

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"According to this policy, prosecutors in the LA DA office tell me if a juvenile were to follow you home, pull a knife on you, threaten to kill you, then use force to rob you, and they are later arrested, they would be eligible for diversion rather than prosecution," Melugin wrote in a tweet.  

'Gascon needs to be voted out'

Twitter users blasted Gascón after the memo went viral on social media. "Time for a RECALL," one of them said, while another noted, "Where does this stop, wow." A third commented, "Criminals on the loose." The next remarked, "Scumbag #Democrat DAs in action. We need to get rid of all of them." One more wrote, "Sounds like Gascon needs to be voted out." Another added, "Gascon has to go. Los Angeles is already beginning to resemble a 3 world lawless country." A commenter tweeted, "The next season of Dexter needs to be based in LA." Another quipped, "Crime is crime!! You need tougher laws which will teach These kids to be responsible citizens."

One more added, "Next up, roving gangs of criminal children. That shouldn’t carry over into their adult life! They’ll get the sexual battery, robbery, grand theft, and assault out of their systems. Totally not habit forming." Another stated, "Gascon is doing exactly what he said he would do. This is the crap he campaigned on. The majority foolishly voted for him. We have ourselves to blame." One more noted, "'...if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor...' So theoretically, a 20 year old who rapes a 10 year old wouldn't have to register as a sex offender?? Wth You ladies out in LA stay safe.."

Gascón's record of criminal justice reform

Being a progressive prosecutor, Gascónhas been vocal about his belief that the criminal justice system needs to focus more on intervention and rehabilitation. As a result, he has heavily criticized "tough on crime" policies as racist and a failure. 

"This program will help repair the immense harm that criminal behavior inflicts on our community by giving crime victims the opportunity to actively participate in the restorative justice process," Gascón said in a statement on the launch of the REDY pilot last month. "Restorative justice' is a trendy approach to criminal justice that focuses on mediating between the offender and the victim as they discuss the crime, with the goal of achieving some kind of redress for the harms caused by the offense."

He added: "For example, the offender could apologize to the victim, or offer to return or replace stolen or damaged property. Officials with Gascón's office say that the REDY program seeks to 'expand opportunities for young people to be connected with services that support their development while offering opportunities to take accountability for their actions through a process that also supports those who have been hurt and their needs."