Kamala Harris: OC Jailhouse Snitch Scandal
Kamala Harris is vying to be a democratic presidential nominee, but her history in Orange County could prohibit her.
Promises to crack down on crime and reform the justice system are a politicians niche. Attorney general and aspiring democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is no different. Harris began her climb up the political ladder in the 1990s as an assistant prosecutor in San Francisco. In 2004 she was elected as district attorney of San Francisco and in 2011 she became the California state attorney general. An advocate of the left, she prosecuted the undercover videographers who divulged videos allegedly revealing Planned Parenthood executives conversing about the marketing of body parts of aborted fetuses and forced a conservative non-profit to turn over their private donor list.
With the announcement of her desire to be the democratic presidential nominee, Harris has come under harsh criticism for her involvement in the Orange County jailhouse snitch scandal. The Orange County district attorney’s office used illegally obtained confessions from jailhouse informants to convict criminals. A superior court judge made a motion to remove the DA from trying cases impacted by jailhouse snitches. Harris sided with the OCDA’s office in the opposition of the motion. In an interview with The New York Times, Harris said she knew about the corruption and it was being “handled on a local level.” Yet, no prosecutor or anyone with the sheriff’s department has faced any charges.
Harris has described herself as a “progressive prosecutor” and a “champion of justice” since she announced she will join the presidential race. These claims received immediate backlash because of her history in the criminal justice system, demonstrating the complete opposite. Harris has a long record of fighting to uphold wrongful convictions due to evidence tampering, false testimony and information suppression by prosecutors. Harris vouched for state legislation that prosecuted parents for having chronically truant children, ignoring worries that low-income minorities would be disproportionately affected. Upon the ruling to abolish the death penalty in Orange County, Harris fought back again. In 2014 she spoke out against reducing marijuana charges to misdemeanors, yet in 2018 when public opinion shifted, so did hers.
Kamala Harris has proved time and time again that she is not concerned with justice. Low income citizens and minorities are not important to her and getting a conviction is all that matters. Harris ignores proper legal proceedings and corruption, as shown by the OC jailhouse snitch scandal.
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