50 Cent tears into LA for resurrecting its zero bail policy as he says the city is ‘finished’ and warns ‘watch how bad it gets’
- The rapper, 48, wrote on social media: ‘LA is finished watch how bad it gets out there. SMH’
- LA ruled that holding inmates to cash bail when they can’t afford it is a violation of their constitutional rights
Legendary rapper 50 Cent claimed Los Angeles is ‘finished’ after the city’s zero bail policy was reinstated.
In May, a Los Angeles judge ruled that holding inmates to cash bail when they can’t afford to pay is a violation of their constitutional rights – and now critics have said that crime in the nation’s second-largest city has got worse because of it.
The hip-hop rapper, 48, wrote on social media: ‘LA is finished watch how bad it gets out there. SMH [shaking my head].’
He posed the words alongside a Fox 11 segment about the policy.
In recent years, Los Angeles has seen a spike in crime was the zero bail policy was put in place. The overall crime rate jumped 11 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. In 2022, there were a reported 60 crimes per 1,000 residents, up from 54 crimes per 1,000 people in 2021.
Rapper 50 Cent claimed Los Angeles is ‘finished’ after the city’s zero bail policy was reinstated
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Los Angeles County removed cash bail to aid overcrowding issues.
Los Angeles’ spiking crime rate has been a problem since the policy was put in place. In the downtown area there was a 25 percent increase in violent crime – such as rape and murder – in 2022 compared to 2019, according to USA Today.
In the Rancho Park neighborhood there was a 114 percent increase in violent crime between 2019 and 2022, according to the data.
Los Angeles police have blamed the rise in mental illness, an increase in drug use and homeliness that has overrun the city.
‘But it’s not only the unhoused population who is the victim of crime’ councilwoman Traci Park told USA Today. ‘Every day, people out in the neighborhoods or community, people working in local businesses, have been victimized, whether by assaults or armed robberies. It’s pretty commonplace.’
Just weeks ago, LA County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff ruled in favor of a group of six activists who brought a lawsuit against the county, alleging that the previous system favored the affluent.
All of the plaintiffs say they have been harmed under the cash bail system.
The plaintiffs testified that because they could not afford their bail, they missed work, causing their families to suffer.
Being jailed for even short periods of time may cause them to lose their jobs, their housing or custody of their children.
They suffer the harms of confinement in a jail cell even though a large portion of them will never be formally charged with any crime, let alone convicted, one section of the suit read.
Riff noted in his decision he felt that it was unconstitutional to keep people behind bars purely for the reason that they are in poverty is not a legal form of punishment.
The current ruling will remain in place for 60 days during which the city and county must develop as ‘constitutionally sound, effective, concrete’ plan to handle those arrested for minor offenses.
Those who commit a second crime while awaiting trial on other charges will be subjected to cash bail when they’re rearrested.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office said that the effects of the policy have been ‘horrific.’
He told Fox News Digital: ‘I mean, we have more people being shot at, stabbed, assaulted, robbed, beaten. These are real victims – and the numbers are staggering under zero bail.’
The ruling in May came just as Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon was accused of letting up to 10,000 cases to pile up and causing numerous prosecutors to quit.
