Kamala Harris admits her own California truancy law was a failure

Kamala Harris.
(Image credit: Mason Trinca/Getty Images)

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has received some retroactive criticism about her tenure as a California prosecutor — mainly that she was too tough on crime. Harris is now considered a criminal justice reformer and, as she launches her 2020 Democratic presidential, she has continued to distance herself from that aspect of her previous career.

She has also been scrutinized for championing a 2011 California truancy law when she was California's attorney general. The law ultimately punished parents with jail time if their children missed too much school.

The law was based off Harris' experience as San Francisco's district attorney when she oversaw a truancy program that was meant to reduce high school drop out rates — an important step in preventing them from falling into the criminal justice system themselves. But during an appearance on Crooked Media's Pod Save America, Harris told host Jon Favreau that she said she had no control over how other jurisdictions imposed the law, which led to the arrests. The senator said that she regrets how the law turned out and the "unintended consequences" it created. Regardless, she explicitly told Favreau that she would not support such a law as president. Watch the conversation below. Tim O'Donnell

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
See more

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.