San Francisco welcomes new District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Brooke Jenkins was sworn in as San Francisco’s new District Attorney (DA) as the appointee of Mayor London N. Breed to replace the former DA following the recall of Chesa Boudin.
“As the District Attorney in San Francisco, I am humbled and honored to serve,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. “I have seen firsthand the imbalances and disproportionate impacts of our criminal justice system. As District Attorney, I will do everything in my power to restore accountability and consequences to San Francisco’s criminal justice system while also moving forward with implementing progressive reforms.”
She is vowing to clean up one of the most crime ridden areas of the city—the Tenderloin.
“The open-air drug markets are one of my top priorities,” Jenkins said Tuesday.
Jenkins said drug crimes have gone without much accountability in recent years.
“I’m aware of the data that only three offenders were required to plead to drug sale charges in the year 2021,” she said.
The mayor sounds encouraged with Jenkins at the helm of the district attorney’s office.
“I am proud that today we swore in Brooke Jenkins as San Francisco’s new District Attorney,” said Mayor Breed. “I hear from residents every day that they are frustrated with the state of accountability in our city and have real concerns about feeling safe, but they also don’t want us to move back on the progress we have made reforming our criminal justice system. I will do all that I can to work with our new District Attorney to ensure that we can restore faith in the system while staying true to the promises we have made.”
Jenkins served as an Assistant DA in the San Francisco DA’s Office from 2014 to 2021, where she worked her way up, serving in the Misdemeanor and Felonies Units before working as the office’s Hate Crimes Prosecutor. She was later promoted to the Sexual Assault Unit and eventually the Homicide Unit. Jenkins resigned from the San Francisco DA’s Office in October 2021 as a result of mounting dissatisfaction with the direction of the office. At the time of her departure, she prosecuted over 25 criminal jury trials and completed more than 100 preliminary hearings.
After an extensive and lengthy process that included meetings with community members, business owners and attorneys, Jenkins was chosen by Mayor Breed for her prosecutorial and personal experience that has equipped her to best understand both sides of the criminal justice system. Jenkins, who is African American and Latina, and a Bay Area native, received her JD from the University of Chicago Law School and BA from UC Berkeley.
She will serve until November, when she will then run during a special election which will decide who will complete Boudin’s term through 2023.
