Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has plunked $1.5 million into several California district attorney campaigns, the latest in millions of dollars the international financier has spent to influence the nation’s criminal justice system.

Soros’ contributions through the California Justice & Public Safety Political Action Committee aim to unseat sitting prosecutors in Alameda, Sacramento and San Diego counties and back Diana Becton, who was appointed Contra Costa County’s first woman and first African-American district attorney last year. The races are non-partisan, meaning no party affiliation appears on the ballot by the candidates’ names. But several candidates Soros is backing identify as Democrats.

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David Alan Sklansky, a Stanford University professor and former federal prosecutor, said the development is broader than Soros and other big-money contributors.

“Ten years ago it was almost unheard of for incumbent prosecutors to lose, let alone to someone who was running on a reform platform, being tougher on police,” he said. “I think there’s an emerging bipartisan, cross-ideological consensus … that criminal justice became too punitive and too harsh and we need to find more moderate and more sensible ways of thinking about criminal justice.”