The Economist explains

What is Kamala Harris’s record as a prosecutor?

Republicans say she was soft on crime. Progressives say she was too harsh

Photograph: Reuters

THERE ARE crimes, Kamala Harris once wrote, and then there are “crime problems”. As a prosecutor from 1990 to 2004, Ms Harris charged suspects one by one. But as the district attorney (DA) of San Francisco, from 2004 to 2010, and attorney-general of California, from 2011 to 2017, she thought about the bigger picture: crime prevention, public safety and social ills. In her presidential campaign she is playing up both parts of her CV. Since entering national politics in 2016 she has called herself both a “top cop” and a “progressive prosecutor”. Which is it?

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