News

Chesa Boudin Got Interviewed on ‘60 Minutes’

The Bay's best newsletter for underground events & news

Progressive, socialist San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin has barely been in office a year, and already a coalition of tech donors and Republicans are trying to recall him from office. Boudin’s focus on reform instead on incarceration has made him a frequent national target on Fox News, but a new 60 Minutes segment that just aired told both sides of the story, and debunks the claim that crime is significantly worse in San Francisco compared to other US cities.

The interview and segment is an online-only bit on 60 Minutes+, which is only available on their new and probably not-necessary streaming platform Paramount Plus. We signed up for the free trial and watch the 20-minute segment so you don’t have to.

The segment does have some neat vintage photos and footage of Boudin’s parents, from their 1981 Weather Underground arrests. Boudin’s father is still in prison, and the interview actually gets interrupted as Boudin gets a call from prison from his father, parts of which we do get to hear. 

“My parents left me at the babysitter. They were unarmed getaway drivers. They weren’t even at the scene of the robbery,” DA Boudin says of that arrest that inspired his work in law enforcement. “I learned from Day One that our criminal justice system is not working. It is not keeping us safe.

“It is not rehabilitating people. It is warehousing them. And in the process, it is bankrupting state and local governments, it is destroying communities and families. It is contributing to an intergenerational cycle of incarceration.”

Image: 60 Minutes+

We do hear from SF Police Officers Association president Association Tony Montoya, who describes Boudin’s tenure as “pure destruction,” But as seen above, 60 Minutes+ broke down pandemic-era crime in other major US cities (which has increased natiowide) and found San Francisco has seen about the same pandemic crime increase as other US cities.

The segment also interviewed Joe Bell, Jr., a formerly incarcerated man whom Boudin released and is now having a productive life and career.

“I’m a better taxpayer than I am a bill,” Bell said. “I can contribute $80,000. Why do you want me to cost $80,000 a year?”

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Previous post

El Rio is Opening Their Patio Back Up on April 1st

Next post

These Artists Are Creating Giant, Amazing Sand Mandalas at Ocean Beach


Joe Kukura- Millionaire in Training

Joe Kukura- Millionaire in Training

Joe Kukura is a two-bit marketing writer who excels at the homoerotic double-entendre. He is training to run a full marathon completely drunk and high, and his work has appeared in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on days when their editors made particularly curious decisions.