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Santa Monica, CA 90405
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By Jorge Casuso

January 25, 2022 -- A week ago, on January 18, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged a homeless man with burglary after he allegedly ransacked a home near Reed Park.

According to police, the suspect had an active no bail parole violation warrant for his arrest.

Three days later, on Friday, a homeless man stormed into a Councilmember's music shop in Mid-City, then attacked an elderly woman on a nearby street ("Homeless Man Attacks Two Victims with Ties to Councilmembers," January 21, 2022).

The latest incident came on the heals of the unprovoked fatal attacks on two Los Angeles women -- Brianna Kupfer and Sandra Shells -- by homeless men.

On Monday night, the Santa Monica attack on the 83-year-old woman was featured on Fox News, which said the deaths of Kupfer and Shells are "renewing the focus on homelessness and violence."

By noon, nearly 90 comments responding to the segment had been posted online, with many questioning the use of the term "unhoused man" to describe the 35-year-old suspect.

"I moved out of Santa Monica over a year and a half ago but I recognize this homeless guy," one commenter wrote.

"He's definitely not too new, so I'm curious if this is the first time he's gotten to this point or not."

Another commenter predicted "this guy will be back on the streets doing the same crap until he literally hurts someone enough to get a jail sentence.

"This is truly a sad situation," the commenter wrote.

Shells, a nurse about to retire from Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, was allegedly killed by Kerry Bell, a homeless man with a criminal record that spans several states.

Kupfer, a 24-year-old UCLA graduate student, was allegedly stabbed to death at a Hancock Park furniture store where she worked by another homeless suspect, Shawn Laval Smith, who has a criminal record in at least two states.

Several of the commenters addressed what they thought was one of the underlying reasons behind the crimes committed by repeat offenders.

"We need to get these violent people OFF THE STREET whether they want to get off street or not!!!," one commenter wrote. "Bring back Jail with NO BAIL."

Another wrote, "No bail system. No jail system. Thank you local voters!!!"

Over the past decade, Santa Monica voters have strongly backed two key criminal reform measures on the statewide ballot and opposed an effort to roll them back ("Santa Monica Voters Oppose Law Enforcement Measure, Help Oust Prosecutor," November 9, 2020).

In 2014, local voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 47, which re-categorized some nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors -- on a 20,326 to 5,506 vote, a nearly 79 percent majority.

Santa Monica Police have blamed the measure for putting some of those who would subsequently commit violent crimes back on the street ("Suspects in Santa Monica's Most Violent Crimes Were Repeat Offenders," March 13, 2018).

Two years later, nearly 82 percent of Santa Monica voters backed Proposition 57, which hastened the release of some non-violent offenders from prisons.

And in November 2020, local voters rejected Proposition 20, which would have rolled back some of the changes ushered in by the measures they supported in 2014 and 2016.

Backed by law enforcement, the failed proposition would have given prosecutors the ability to once again charge low-level crimes as felonies and make it harder for inmates to make parole.

In the same election, the majority of Santa Monica voters backed LA County District Attorney George Gascón -- a champion of alternative sentencing measures -- against incumbent Jackie Lacey, who was backed by law enforcement.

As San Francisco district Attorney, Gascón "made frequent use of diversion programs and alternative sentencing methods for defendants accused of nonviolent crimes, juveniles and those suffering from mental illness or drug addiction," Yahoo news wrote when he won.