Public Safety in San Francisco Post Prop 36,
A Conversation with SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
6:00 PM
1073 Howard Street (Between 6th and 7th)
Under the leadership of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, the San Francisco District Attorney's office remains committed to utilizing every new law created by Proposition 36, including charging California Health and Safety Code Section 11395, a Treatment-Mandated Felony for repeat drug possession offenses that provides for drug treatment instead of jail or prison, by requiring the completion of a drug treatment program.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s office is filing more drug possession cases than ever before, dramatically increasing the number of narcotics possession cases filed year over year from 10 in 2022 (through August 30 of that year) to 19 in 2023 (through August 30 of that year), to 142 in 2024 (through August 30 of that year) to 297 through August 30 of this year.
A primary obstacle preventing San Francisco prosecutors from charging Treatment-Mandated Felonies is the virtual nonexistence of prior qualifying convictions for drug cases, especially hard-drug possession cases, due to an historical approach in San Francisco’s criminal justice system, principally during the tenure of previous district attorneys, that resulted in the near-universal dismissal or diversion of misdemeanor criminal cases.
This pattern, with the concurrence of the San Francisco Superior Court, appears to be unique among California counties and is why the overwhelming majority of habitual hard drug offenders in San Francisco lack the requisite two prior drug possession convictions necessary for a Treatment-Mandated Felony to be charged.