San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is warning that a sweeping new California Supreme Court ruling on bail could undermine years of efforts to crack down on repeat offenders and chronic retail theft in the city.
In a unanimous April 30 decision, the California Supreme Court ruled that judges must consider a defendant’s ability to pay when setting bail and may only deny bail entirely in limited circumstances involving violent or sexual offenses.
The 7-0 opinion, authored by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, stemmed from the case of a homeless man arrested for using a found credit card to buy a $7 cheeseburger, according to CalMatters.
Under the ruling, courts can no longer impose bail amounts that defendants realistically cannot afford simply to keep them detained before trial. Instead, judges must either set affordable bail conditions or justify detention under narrow constitutional standards.
Jenkins criticized the ruling in comments to the New York Post, arguing it will make it significantly harder for prosecutors to keep repeat offenders off the streets while awaiting trial.
“Not only is this a devastating ruling for the DA’s office, but a devastating ruling for our state and for San Francisco,” Jenkins said.
Defense attorneys reportedly moved quickly to invoke the ruling. Within days of the decision, lawyers sought the release of more than 90 inmates facing charges ranging from theft and drug dealing to other repeat offenses, according to the New York Post.
Among those released was a woman accused of committing a 2023 crime spree involving a hammer attack and a robbery using scissors. She was reportedly released with electronic monitoring.
Jenkins argued the ruling threatens to reverse public safety gains San Francisco has recently experienced after years of lenient criminal justice policies.
She pointed to several repeat offenders her office successfully prosecuted, including Aziza Graves, who allegedly stole more than $60,000 worth of merchandise from a single Target store over roughly 120 visits.
Another suspect, Tyrese Boswell, allegedly targeted the same Walgreens 27 times in fewer than six months.
Jenkins also highlighted a recent narcotics operation in which authorities seized more than 338 grams of drugs and arrested 62 individuals, 52 of whom allegedly had outstanding warrants.
According to police data cited by the New York Post, San Francisco saw significant declines in several major crime categories between 2024 and 2025, including a 26% drop in burglaries, a 23% decline in robberies and a 44% decrease in vehicle thefts.
Jenkins credited aggressive pretrial detention policies as a key factor behind those improvements, arguing technology such as surveillance cameras and drones alone cannot account for the reductions.
The debate also comes after President Donald Trump previously floated the possibility of deploying the National Guard to San Francisco as part of a broader effort to address crime and disorder in major cities. San Francisco officials argued the city was already making measurable progress through local law enforcement and prosecutorial reforms, and that a military intervention was unnecessary.
Trump ultimately did not move forward with deploying the National Guard to the city, effectively allowing San Francisco officials to continue handling the issue independently.
Jenkins and other local officials have since argued that those locally driven enforcement efforts were beginning to show results before the new bail ruling threatened to weaken prosecutors’ leverage over repeat offenders.
The ruling also places California at odds with a growing national debate over bail reform and pretrial detention. In recent years, progressive states and cities have increasingly pushed to reduce or eliminate cash bail systems, arguing wealth should not determine whether someone remains jailed before trial.
Critics of cash bail argue the traditional system unfairly punishes poor defendants who may be legally presumed innocent but remain incarcerated because they cannot afford release.
Supporters of tougher detention policies, however, contend eliminating high bail requirements allows repeat offenders back into communities where they continue committing crimes while cases remain pending.
The political divide over bail reform has intensified nationally. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order targeting cashless bail systems, while voters in several states, including Alabama and Indiana, are considering ballot measures to expand judges’ authority to hold defendants before trial.
Jenkins also expressed frustration that California’s criminal justice policies continue fueling the state’s national reputation for being soft on crime.
“We are going to continue to be the brunt of every joke and attack on Fox News, and rightfully so,” Jenkins told the New York Post.
The ruling is expected to reshape bail practices across California courts and could trigger broader legal and political battles over public safety.
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