LA County DA George Gascon discusses sentencing enhancements, money bail in interview with ABC7

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- In a one-on-one interview with ABC7 on Tuesday, newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon discussed a gamut of topics ranging from the sweeping changes instituted by his office to the way he defines his role as the county's top prosecutor.

Asked to assess his tenure so far after about three weeks in office, Gascon said: "It's going well. It's going as anticipated."
[Ads /]
"One of the things that I promised people from the very beginning, I had a clear platform," the DA said. "I think that often we have become so cynical -- we're used to people running for office telling us one thing and then when they get elected doing another thing.
[Ads /]
"I wanted to make sure that in my case that would never be it."

LA County DA Gascon reverses course, allows prosecutors to seek sentencing enhancements in 'extraordinary' cases

Referring to one of the more controversial issues of his reform agenda, Gascon said sentencing enhancements "do not work."

RELATED: Crime victims' families lash out at LA County DA George Gascon over new policies

He noted that hate crimes "have been on the rise for the last five or six years," adding that "if enhancements were to work, we would have a reduction in hate crimes -- but we haven't. We've had an increase."

Watch Gascon's interview with ABC7 in its entirety in the video above.