California Is Hell-Bent on Removing Accountability for Violent Criminals

A Democrat-sponsored bill in California would allow violent offenders to invoke "trauma" as a defense.

California is taking the next step in its ongoing embrace of "restorative justice" with legislation that would allow violent criminals to seek reduced sentences by citing past "trauma."

Assembly Bill 910, introduced by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, would expand California law to allow "trauma" to be considered for reduced resentencing in nearly all violent crime cases except murder. "This bill would allow that defense [trauma] to be used with respect to a violent felony, except for murder, as specified," the bill's text reads.

Bonta has a history of sponsoring soft-on-crime policies and recently sponsored Assembly Bill 2624—colloquially known as the "Stop Nick Shirly Act" to block independent journalists from investigating fraud in the Golden State.

Supporters describe the proposal as a correction for abuse survivors whose trauma was never considered during their original trials. One of the main drivers behind the bill, Susan Bustamante, received a life sentence after allegedly hiring her brother to kill her husband and helping dispose of his body for a $100,000 life insurance payout.

Bustamante claims her husband beat her, and she now wishes she had mentioned that during her trial. She also claims her brother killed her husband without her knowledge.

Where Is the Line?

The proposal reflects a broader trend in "progressive" criminal justice policy: replacing personal responsibility with systemic or generational explanations for criminal conduct.

California law already allows defendants in certain nonviolent cases to argue that past trauma should be considered in their defense. This bill would extend that same principle to individuals convicted of violent crimes.

While the legislation excludes murder cases, likely won't stop there. Progressive criminal justice policies expand over time, making it plausible that future legislation could seek to apply the same standard to all crimes.

Assembly Bill 910 is only the latest development in a long line of California policies that promote criminal behavior. Proposition 47, implemented in 2014, reduced numerous felonies, including theft and drug possession, to minor criminal offenses.

In May, the California Supreme Court ruled that bail amounts must be set at an affordable rate. The only issue is that bail is one of the best methods for keeping criminals off the streets during trial. For this reason, bail amounts increase based on the severity of the crime and the defendant's criminal history.

"I knew it would immediately be devastating to public safety and the state of California and had a lot of concerns that I thought needed to be shared with the public and other city leaders," said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

Life Without Accountability

Assembly Bill 910 embodies the Marxist notion that the environment is responsible for the outcome, not the individual. This failed premise is best seen in the American public school system.

In the early 2000s, educators began to veer away from punishing students because they believed enforcing standards was discriminatory toward black and Latino students—an outright racist principle in its own right.

To address this "discrimination," schools began implementing "restorative justice" policies. Restorative justice in education is described as a disciplinary approach that focuses on “healing, responsibility, and the rebuilding of relationships” over punishment.

In other words, it removed standards and reduced punishment to create the image of a school system that didn't have high suspension rates. But as anyone would assume, relaxed standards that focused on coddling developing children instead of disciplining them led to a complete disaster.

A 2025 RAND Corporation survey found that teachers reported significantly higher stress and lower overall well-being. Student misbehavior was the primary reason.

Many teachers said that classrooms are the hardest they have ever had to manage.

"The school system's discipline policies don't support the classroom teacher," one educator said in a 2019 Thomas B. Fordham Institute survey. "I have observed students with chronic behavior problems repeat poor behaviors with little consequences. It seems at times that administration's hands are tied."

Failure From the Get-Go

Rampant reductions in standards have infiltrated every level of human development in America. From education, an environment that should craft skilled and accountable individuals, to criminal justice, an environment that should uphold justice—"progressive" policies continue to undo every form of normalcy in society.

From a young age, children are taught that their mistakes are not their own. When those same children become adults, the criminal justice system coddles them by telling them it isn't their fault.

This approach creates and fosters individuals who have never faced their issues or been held accountable for their actions. When there are no consequences, there is no reason to be an upstanding citizen.

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