Where do you live?
Alameda
  • Alameda
  • Imperial
  • San Diego
What do you care about?
Advancing Youth Justice
  • All Issue Areas
  • Advancing Youth Justice
  • Combatting Racial and Other Disparities
  • Death Penalty
  • Ending Excessive Sentences and Promoting Second Chances
  • Ending Over-criminalization and Mass incarceration
  • Ending the Use of Money Bail
  • Ensuring Accessibility Transparency Integrity and Accountability
  • Protecting Immigrant Communities
  • Protecting Workers and Consumers
  • Standing Up to Police Misconduct
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Alameda

DA Candidates

Will you commit to keeping all children out of adult court by pledging not to prosecute any minors as adults?

Recognizing that children and youth are categorically less culpable than adults, have less impulse control and possess profound capacity for transformation, will you decline to seek life without the possibility of parole for any person under 26 at the time of offense? Please select “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.

Will you prohibit the use of juvenile adjudications as strikes and allow resentencing?

When juveniles are being prosecuted (for both misdemeanors and felonies), do you support advocating for restorative justice practices instead of time spent in juvenile hall? If so, what practices would you support?

Will you commit to keeping all children out of adult court by pledging not to prosecute any minors as adults?
Pamela’s Response

Our approach to young people engaged in the system is deeply flawed. There are no circumstances under which I believe a juvenile should be prosecuted as an adult. The neuroscience is clear that brain development is not complete until a person is in their mid-twenties. Numerous studies have shown the devastating harms of prosecuting children as adults. Prosecuting youth as adults not only destroys their lives, it does nothing to make our community safer. I will Immediately direct all deputies to identify cases where the office has charged or incarcerated youth under the age of 18 as an adult and review them for alternative dispositions and impose a prohibition on charging youths as adults in all future cases subject to prosecution in our office.

Recognizing that children and youth are categorically less culpable than adults, have less impulse control and possess profound capacity for transformation, will you decline to seek life without the possibility of parole for any person under 26 at the time of offense? Please select “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.
Pamela’s Response

I will establish a young adult court, similar to the one in San Francisco, to divert and support young adults under the age of 25 who are facing felony charges. I will not seek life without the possibility of parole sentences for young people under the age of 26. I will work with local school systems and educators across the County to improve our outreach to young people to help them make better life decisions, reduce gun violence and avoid entanglement with the criminal justice system. We need a DA that understands that “none of us want to be judged by the worst thing we’ve ever done in our lives.” Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

When juveniles are being prosecuted (for both misdemeanors and felonies), do you support advocating for restorative justice practices instead of time spent in juvenile hall? If so, what practices would you support?
Pamela’s Response

I have supported the development and expansion of the non-profit Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY)since its inception. RJOY has been successful in providing young people with the tools to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. I will work with educators to expand services provided by RJOY in the educational arena, along with expanding partnerships with organizations such as Community Works West, the Center for Young Women’s Development, CURJY, the Urban Peace Movement, BOSS, Genesis, Youth Alive and other community-based youth advocates. Since 2017, I have included the initiative to bring a neighborhood courts program to Alameda County in my criminal justice reform platform. This type of program has been successful in reducing crime and recidivism in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

Will you commit to keeping all children out of adult court by pledging not to prosecute any minors as adults?
Terry’s Response

We reserve the right in cases of juveniles who are 17.5 years old who commit multiple murders or serial rapes.

This site is a resource to help us understand the district attorney candidates' stances on key criminal justice issues. We sent every DA candidate a set of questions about their platform. Their responses, or lack thereof, can help us be more informed voters on November 8, 2022.

Why it matters

District Attorneys (DAs) have tremendous power to impact the lives of millions of people, their families, and entire communities. If someone is accused of a crime, it is the DA–not the police–who has the sole power to decide if criminal charges are filed and the severity of those charges. They alone decide who is deserving of a jail or prison sentence and who will instead be routed into a diversion program to help rebuild their life, or have charges dismissed.

In California, we have 58 elected DAs each representing one of our 58 counties. Our job is to elect a DA who is committed to seeking justice in criminal cases, working to prevent crime, and serving as a leader in the diverse communities they represent.

Learn more at MeetYourDA.org

The questionnaire contained:
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“Yes” or “No” Questions
250
Word count response field

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This website features candidate responses to the California District Attorney Candidate Questionnaire, an effort of the ACLU of California. Candidates from the Los Angeles and San Francisco District Attorney Race will not be featured on this site.