It’s been six months since Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price was voted into office on a platform of criminal justice reform.
On Thursday, NBC Bay Area’s Velena Jones sat down with Price for a one-on-one interview to check in on where she feels things stand in her push to reform the system.
Almost since the day Price took office, she's faced pointed attacks about the many of the progressive policies that got her elected to office. Promises to reform the justice system, expand alternative sentencing, reduce enhancements and alter the juvenile system to focus on reform rather than punishment.
“We are not going to be detoured by that,” she said. “The people who lost the election, lost the election. The people of Alameda County, who were the majority that voted for us to come and fix the broken system.”
Among the controversies, her critics have focused on recent decision to release a group of eight pre-teens and teens arrested in connection with more than 35 robberies. The DA said the case lacked evidence.
Price explains that, in her opinion, there needs to be much more focus on creating alternatives for at-risk youth, rather than incarcerating them.
“We understand the consequences, the impact that it has on them lifelong being incarcerated. That's generally the last resort. And only the most serious offenders are placed into juvenile custody," she said.
Price added that she is moving forward with reform to the adult justice system as well. This includes alternative sentencing models that rely on drug treatment and mental diversion programs rather than prison sentences.
Price also defended her decision to drop the criminal enhancements in several cases, including some enhancements in the widely publicized murder of 23-month-old Jasper Wu, who was shot and killed in a rolling gunfight on 880 in 2021.
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“Enhancements are at the heart of mass incarceration,” she said. “And those of us who have studied this problem and the remedies for it understand that the use of enhancements has devastated black and brown communities.”
The Oakland Police Officers Association, the union who represents most Oakland police officers said their members are struggling to keep up with widespread crime on the street and added many of Price’s proposed reforms are “making a bad situation even worse.”
“Her policies solely are not causing the significant crime we are seeing in the streets of Oakland. But they are exasperating an already very challenging crime situations that the residents in Oakland are facing," said Barry Donelan with the Oakland Police Officers Association.
The city of Oakland is approaching a 14% increase in robberies since last year, hitting a 10-year record, according to Donelan.
“We bring the perpetrator to justice, we need the other part of the criminal justice department, the district attorney’s office to advocate for the very victims we are trying to protect,” he said.
