Boudin, other prosecutors join up to push justice reform
Four reformminded California prosecutors have created their own lobbying organization to support progressive legislation and candidates, a group intended to challenge the lawandorder ethos and political heft of traditional law enforcement associations.
The Prosecutors Alliance of California includes both current San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and his predecessor, George Gascón, who is now running for Los Angeles County district attorney. San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar and Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton are the other two founding members.
The alliance, the first of its kind in the country, according to its founders, is intended to serve as a counterweight to what members say has been a monolithic party line around law enforcement
that doesn’t necessarily represent California’s voters. Police unions and the California District Attorneys Association have often thrown their support and sizable coffers behind toughoncrime causes, despite broad support for criminal justice reform.
“Law enforcement organizations have been advocating for policies and guided by philosophies that really haven’t changed in 40 years,” Boudin said in a recent interview. “They don’t rely on data or empirical evidence about what makes us safer.”
The alliance’s members say they’ll begin weighing in on — and raising money around — statewide ballot initiatives as early as the November general election.
Those measures include Proposition 20, which would expand the list of violent crimes for which there is no early release, and Proposition 25, which would overturn a 2018 law that eliminates cash bail as a requirement to release people from jail before trial.
It’s unclear now how the alliance will work with the California District Attorneys Association, which advocates for legislation in Sacramento, conducts training for prosecutors and regularly meets to discuss criminal justice policy. But prosecutors won’t have to pick sides. Both Boudin and Becton are current members of CDAA, though Salazar, a Republican, recently left the organization in opposition to its stances.
In a January letter, Salazar called the CDAA “out of touch,” and pointed to the association’s unsuccessful opposition to several reform measures.
In recent years, the CDAA has opposed 2014’s Proposition 47, which reduced penalties for most drug possession cases and lowlevel thefts, as well as 2016 ’s Proposition 57, which shortened prison time for nonviolent offenders. California voters passed both measures. It additionally opposed 2012’s modification of the three strikes law, which made only violent felonies eligible as third strikes.
Gascón, a coauthor of Prop. 47, stressed that studies have shown the measure did not trigger an increase in overall crime as opponents predicted it would, and invested in community services like mental health and substance abuse treatment.
“If you hear police unions and prosecutors, (they’ll say) singlehandedly Prop. 47 has caused an increase in crime, which is a lie,” Gascón said.
The new alliance, he said, is “really pushing back on those conversations.”
Gascón said the funds will not be supporting him in his upcoming election.
The alliance differs from other progressive prosecutor organizations in that it’s focused on statelevel, rather than national, policy discussions, said Executive Director Cristine DeBerry. DeBerry until Friday served as chief of staff for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, working under both Boudin and Gascón.
DeBerry said this year’s highprofile killings of Black people, including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., have laid bare how policing and criminal justice reform happen at the state level.
“What we’re focused on is being able to stand toetotoe with organizations like CDAA,” DeBerry said. “The power that CDAA had for so long is that they have been the only voice for prosecutors in the state. But that voice has not reflected the very diverse point of view of its members.”
“What we’re focused on is being able to stand toetotoe with organizations” like the state district attorneys group.
Cristine DeBerry, executive director of new Prosecutors Alliance of California
Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@ sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy