East Bay DA part of new group seeking reforms
The organization is an outgrowth of nationwide protests
After watching for decades as tough-on-crime law enforcement groups lobbied for a more punitive criminal justice system, four progressive California prosecutors have launched a new political alliance they say will push for reforms.
Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton on Tuesday joined San Francisco District Attorney and former Public Defender Chesa Boudin, San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar, and George Gascon, the former San Francisco DA running this fall to become the top prosecutor in Los Angeles County, in announcing the new Prosecutors Alliance of California.
The group will consist of two parts: A fund that will lobby and campaign for criminal justice reform legislation, and a nonprofit organization to “provide public education, support and training to prosecutors and their offices,” the group said in a press release.
The alliance’s members present their group as the first of its kind, an outgrowth of nationwide protests this summer over police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black residents, and demands for racial justice.
“This is not a debate that’s happening solely in the streets, it’s happening in the Legislature and at the highest levels of government,” Becton, who was elected Contra Costa County’s prosecutor in 2018 on a progressive platform, said in a news release issued by Boudin’s office. “We need a voice at the table that represents us and understands we must pursue modern alternatives to the statusquo.”
Its founders say the alliance is meant as a counterweight to powerful law enforcement groups, including police unions and some of their fellow prosecutors, that have historically pushed for tougher criminal penalties and longer jail and prison sentences.
That stance could set up the group for conflicts with the California District Attorneys Association, which represents prosecutors statewide.
The association has campaigned against ballot propositions that voters approved in recent years to reduce certain criminal penalties.
The alliance’s four members sparred with the association earlier this year when they called for the State Bar to prohibit prosecutors from accepting political contributions from unions representing law enforcement officers, saying the donations create a conflict of interest because the same DAs are responsible for deciding whether police shootings were legally justified.