Boudin, Chesa

Chesa Boudin (, CHAY-sə boo-DEEN; born August 21, 1980) is an American lawyer who served as the 29th district attorney of San Francisco from January 8, 2020 to July 8, 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Boudin graduated from Yale University and was a Rhodes Scholar at St Antony's College, Oxford. After obtaining his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2011, Boudin clerked for two federal judges and became a deputy public defender in San Francisco. Boudin was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2019. In an effort to reduce incarceration, he implemented criminal justice reform policies such as bail reform and alternatives to prosecution and sentencing. However, he was heavily criticized for mismanagement of the office and for his perceived softness on crime. Boudin was the subject of a recall election on June 7, 2022. The recall election was successful, as 55% of the electorate voted to remove him from office.