Chesa Boudin's tenure as San Francisco's district attorney was marred by critical media narratives presenting his progressive policies as responsible for rising crime. Despite statistical evidence indicating crime, particularly violent crime, was on the decline during his leadership, he faced fierce opposition. Concurrently, serious criminals, such as wage thieves and environmental offenders, were largely ignored in public discourse. Alec Karakarsanis' book, 'Copaganda,' delves into how media manipulation promotes harmful policies rooted in fear and misinformation, ultimately affecting the implementation of social programs designed to prevent crime and support community well-being.
When Chesa Boudin was elected as San Francisco's district attorney, a powerful political and communications operation immediately went into effect to try to undermine his policies. Unrelenting news stories talked about huge increases in crime, about a lawless city, about how a progressive DA was making us all less safe.
In the meantime, massive amounts of serious, dangerous crime have been on the rise. The largest single source of theft in this country, worth billions of dollars, is wage theft. Tax cheats steal trillions of dollars from the nation's coffers.
Programs that help prevent crime and inequality are gutted so that more money can go to what author Alec Karakarsanis calls the Punishment Bureaucracy can collect more millions of dollars.
Karakarsanis provides background, explains how reporters are taken in, and offers solutions. This is one of the most important works of the year.
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