Where do you live?
Alameda
  • Alameda
  • Imperial
  • San Diego
What do you care about?
Combatting Racial and Other Disparities
  • 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 implement policies and practices to combat bias in decision-making within your Office, including in charging decisions, bail recommendations, diversion program placements, and plea bargains – as well as in internal Office practices (i.e. regularly bringing in experts to train staff and prosecutors on implicit and explicit bias, prioritizing inclusive hiring and promotion, and ensuring the office not only has racial and ethnic diversity, but also diversity in gender, ability, health)? Please select “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.

Will you pledge to collect and post online quarterly statistical information disaggregated by race, age, zip code of residence (including if houseless), and gender on felony and misdemeanor charging decisions, convictions, declinations (to charge), and diversion program placements? Please select “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.

Will you decline to file charges where an arrest provides evidence that the officer engaged in racial profiling or other racial bias? Please answer “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.

When individuals bring legal challenges under the California Racial Justice Act of 2020, will you be proactive about providing access to relevant evidence, carefully consider the allegations raised, and take corrective action when the challenges have merit?

Will you support retroactive application of the California Racial Justice Act, through AB 256 (Kalra)?

Will you commit to implement policies and practices to combat bias in decision-making within your Office, including in charging decisions, bail recommendations, diversion program placements, and plea bargains – as well as in internal Office practices (i.e. regularly bringing in experts to train staff and prosecutors on implicit and explicit bias, prioritizing inclusive hiring and promotion, and ensuring the office not only has racial and ethnic diversity, but also diversity in gender, ability, health)? Please select “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.
Pamela’s Response

I have been an advocate for racial, gender, and social justice for more than 40 years. For several years in the 1990s, I participated as a diversity trainer in a private consulting business. Several clients were law enforcement agencies. I also served as the Court-appointed monitor for the equal opportunity employment Consent Decree for Contra Costa County for 10 years. I am very familiar with the need and opportunity to create diverse workforces. I personally have diversity and decades of management experience. I have successfully created and managed Executive Teams to run my office and achieve major legal victories. I have trained and managed legal teams to represent victims against some of the major law firms in this country, including the Dept. of Justice for the State of California, Amtrak, and the United States Postal Service. I wrote my first personnel manual and hired my first employee in 1991. Since then, I have hired hundreds of employees and helped dozens of other companies become successful.

Will you pledge to collect and post online quarterly statistical information disaggregated by race, age, zip code of residence (including if houseless), and gender on felony and misdemeanor charging decisions, convictions, declinations (to charge), and diversion program placements? Please select “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.
Pamela’s Response

Transparency is part of our platform, as is community engagement and accountability.

Will you decline to file charges where an arrest provides evidence that the officer engaged in racial profiling or other racial bias? Please answer “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.
Pamela’s Response

As District Attorney, I will aggressively address the systemic racism and its consequences for Black and Brown communities by working with local police agencies to Identify cases brought to us by law enforcement agencies that are racially motivated or infected with racial bias in the initiation of the arrest. I will not participate in unconstitutional policing by police agencies. I will, however, insist that other investigatory tools and options be utilized to identify perpetrators of criminal activity to ensure public safety.

Will you commit to implement policies and practices to combat bias in decision-making within your Office, including in charging decisions, bail recommendations, diversion program placements, and plea bargains – as well as in internal Office practices (i.e. regularly bringing in experts to train staff and prosecutors on implicit and explicit bias, prioritizing inclusive hiring and promotion, and ensuring the office not only has racial and ethnic diversity, but also diversity in gender, ability, health)? Please select “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.
Terry’s Response

I’m currently the Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We have implemented policies and practices that address all of the aforementioned standards.

Will you decline to file charges where an arrest provides evidence that the officer engaged in racial profiling or other racial bias? Please answer “Yes” or “No” and provide an explanation.
Terry’s Response

We will not tolerate cases that originate from racial profiling.

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:
49
“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.