TheEconomistMay7th 2022 UnitedStates 41fifths of Californian adults, among chil
dren they account for only a quarter.
Despite this, the state is less of a melt
ing pot in another way: it used to be a place
where everyone came from somewhere
else. Before 2000, says Mr Myers, only 40%
of 25 to 34yearolds were born in the
state. Now the share is 60%. The Beach
Boys’ Wilson brothers were born in Cali
fornia, but their parents were from Kansas
and Minnesota. Eddie Van Halen grew up
in Pasadena to become one of the world’s
greatest guitarists. His parents were born
in the Netherlands and Indonesia.
On surfari to stay?
One sign of the state’s ebbing diversity is
the decline of those who speak mostly or
only Spanish. In the 2010s, fourfifths of
selfidentified Hispanics spoke the lan
guage fluently; by 2020, the share was two
thirds. Another sign is that half the states’
foreignborn immigrants are citizens, the
highest share for 40 years. “We’re not that
different any more,” laments Mr Mathews.
William Frey, at the Brookings Institu
tion, a thinktank, points out that many of
the state’s demographic problems are con
centrated in four big cities. The rest of the
state rivals Texas and Arizona in its contin
ued attractiveness to incomers. And it will
be helped as house prices throughout the
West start to catch up with California.
Migration into the state has remained
steady for a decade (it is the number leav
ing that has changed). California contin
ues to attract the same share of foreign im
migrants as ever, roughly a quarter, even
though the total fell. And in the 2010s, ac
cording to the Public Policy Institute of
California, a research group, more college
graduates moved to the state than left, at a
time when people with only highschool
education were flooding out. Incomers
tended to be wealthier, too.
Perhaps California is still where the fu
ture happens first. It is a future of ageing,
declining populations, ethnic diversity
and educational advance: no bad thing,but
not the sunshine of California dreamin’.n
That shrinking feeling
California, annual population change, ’000Source:CaliforniaDepartmentofFinance*BasedonJanuary1stestimates4002000-200-400
2220181614122010
YearsendingJuly 1stNetinternationalmigrationNet total*
Natural increaseNet domestic migrationNewOrleansA new, progressive sheriff in town
T
hearrivalofa newsheriffisnotal
ways a joyous occasion—at least in the
films of John Ford or Clint Eastwood. Usu
ally, it means something has gone terribly
wrong. But in New Orleans it is another
chance for a parade.
On May 2nd a crowd lined Canal Street
as marching bands, sheriff’s deputies on
motorcycles and costumed revellers remi
niscent of Mardi Gras headed towards the
Mississippi. They were escorting the city’s
new sheriff, Susan Hutson, to her inaugu
ration. After defeating a 17year incum
bent, Marlin Gusman, in last year’s elec
tion, Ms Hutson is the first female sheriff
in New Orleans’s 304year history, and the
first AfricanAmerican female sheriff in
the state of Louisiana.
Her reward is to oversee the Orleans
Justice Centre, a jail with a history of vio
lence and mismanagement. Ms Hutson
promises a more humane approach to the
incarcerated. Though she is not the first
such progressive sheriff, Ms Hutson’s new
jurisdiction is among the largest. Her expe
rience will be closely watched.
Faced with overcrowding in the 1970s,
Louisiana shifted many inmates from state
prisons to city jails. The New Orleans jail
population swelled, peaking at more than
6,000 in 2005. Hurricane Katrina that year
brought nightmarish reports of inmates
waistdeep in flood water. Violence, organ
ised crime and poor sanitation plagued the
jail for years. Following a classaction law
suit brought by ten prisoners, Mr Gusman
agreed to a consent decree with the DepartmentofJusticein2012, under which the
sheriff’s office promised to improve condi
tions. The presiding federal districtcourt
judge, Lance Africk, described the jail as
“an indelible stain on the community”.
A decade later, the consent decree has
still not been lifted. The jail, though it now
has just under 1,000 inmates, remains dan
gerous. Force is often used to break up
fights. An average of three inmates a year
have died in custody since 2014, nearly all
from drug overdoses, suicide or prevent
able medical emergencies. Short staffing
and high turnover lead to lapses in securi
ty. A surge in crime may put the jail under
even greater pressure. More than 90 mur
ders have been recorded in New Orleans
this year, the worst fourmonth stretch to
start a year since 2005.
Unlike most sheriffs, Ms Hutson has
never served in law enforcement. From
2010 she worked as the independent mon
itor for the New Orleans Police Depart
ment, itself under a consent decree since2012. “I don’t look at everything through a
blue lens, but I’ve worked around law en
forcement long enough to know the stan
dards,” she says. Inspired by the protests
after the murder of George Floyd in 2020,
she decided to challenge Mr Gusman.
Her campaign stressed improving med
ical services for prisoners, including men
tal health. She pledged to give them full
visitation rights, minimise the use of force
by deputies and provide housing that ac
cords with an inmate’s selfidentified gen
der. She also vowed to bring the office into
compliance with the consent decree. But
she opposes a $50m expansion of the jail
that would add 89 beds for mentalhealth
services, the construction of which was or
dered by Judge Africk and supported by Mr
Gusman. Ms Hutson argues that the mon
ey would be better spent on upgrading the
city’s dilapidated structures and she will
seek to appeal against the move.
So after the festivities, she will have her
hands full. “Jails are like big freighter ships
moving down the Mississippi, they need
continuous attention to shift course,” says
Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loy
ola University New Orleans. If the city’s
crime surge continues, residents may be
come more receptive to Ms Hutson’s crit
ics, who believe a gentler approach to in
mates will only embolden criminals. In the
films, it is not longbefore a new sheriff
faces a showdown.n
N EW ORLEANS
Susan Hutson must reform a notorious jail amid rising crimeFirst lady