Wikipedia

Pamela Price

Pamela Y. Price is an American lawyer and, since January 2023, the District Attorney for Alameda County, California. She is the first African-American woman to ever serve as Alameda County's DA.[1] She supports progressive legislative reforms and ran on police accountability and rehabilitation.[1] She is facing a recall effort.[2][3] Price promised "alternatives to incarceration" if she were elected.[4]

Pamela Price
14th District Attorney of Alameda County
Assumed office
January 3, 2023
Preceded byNancy O'Malley
Personal details
Born1957 (age 66–67)
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationYale University (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (JD)

Early life and career edit

Price was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1957.[5] She experienced the Ohio juvenile justice and foster care system.[6] She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1978 from Yale University. She received a Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1982.[5][7] She worked as defense and civil rights attorney and she started her own firm in 1991 specializing in employment litigation and representing victims of retaliation, wrongful termination, sexual assaults, and discrimination.[7]

Alameda County district attorney edit

In 2018, she ran for Mayor of Oakland and lost against Libby Schaaf with 13.1% of the votes. In 2018 she also ran in the nonpartisan primary for Alameda County District Attorney and lost against incumbent Nancy O'Malley with 42.2% of the votes. She ran on a policy of police accountability.

She won the 2022 Alameda County District Attorney election on November 8, 2022, against Terry Wiley with 53.15% of the votes. She is the first Black woman to serve as Alameda County District Attorney, the first person to be elected District Attorney without already being appointed to the office, and[5] the first person to take the role without having worked in the District Attorney Office.[7] She ran on a platform centered on rehabilitation and addressing instances of police misconduct.[8] She pledged to terminate the utilization of the death penalty, cease the practice of charging individuals under the age of 18 as adults, establish a unit dedicated to ensuring the integrity of convictions, and enhance services for victims of gun violence.[2] She started her tenure in January 2023.[7]

In her first month in office, Price reopened eight cases involving law enforcement-involved death.[8] Also in March 2023, Price distributed a preliminary version of updated sentencing guidelines within her department. These policies align with her commitment to reduce or eliminate mass incarceration, particularly for young offenders, as outlined in one of the ten points of her campaign platform aimed at curbing the over-criminalization of youth.[5]

In March 2023, Price said she favored accountability for the gang members who killed a 23-month-old bystander named Jasper Wu when they were having a shootout in November 2021.[9] Price kept the murder charges with a gang enhancement. If convicted, the defendants may face more than one hundred years in prison.[10]

On April 14, 2023, a "special directive" issued by the district attorney's office established a guideline whereby prosecutors are encouraged to refrain from seeking elevated sentences for serious offenses if the imposition of such sentences would lead to a disproportionate "racial impact".[11]

On February 26, 2024, Patti Lee, a spokeswoman hired and fired by DA Pamela Price, alleged that she was fired for raising concerns about the alleged California Public Records Act violations and claimed that Price has "constantly and openly" made derogatory comments against Asian Americans. She is seeking $1.5 million settlement.[12][13]

Recall efforts edit

In August 2023, some critics of Pamela Price filed the intent-to-recall paperwork to begin the process of trying to recall her from office, as they claimed that she is too soft on crime.[14] In October, a group called SAFE (Save Alameda For Everyone) launched a campaign to collect 73,195 valid signatures required by the county charter to put the recall to a vote.[15] SAFE said it's a broad coalition of Alameda County residents, business owners, victims, victims' families, and concerned citizens who have come together in the face of rising crime.[16] In March 2024 SAFE submitted 127,387 signatures to county officials to be verified after spending more than $2.2 million on the signature drive effort to recall her.[16]

On March 5, 2024, Alameda County voters approved a change to the Alameda County charter to modify the recall procedure and have it aligned with the California state law regarding the recall of elective and appointive county officers.[17]

On April 15, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters stated that enough valid signatures has been submitted to trigger a recall election. Under the county charter, the proponents needed a minimum of 73,195 valid signatures. The number of valid signatures on the petition was 74,757, and the total number of signatures disqualified was 48,617.[18]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Sharpe, Joshua (2022-11-19). "Civil rights attorney Pamela Price makes history as Alameda County's next district attorney". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  2. ^ a b Lacy, Akela (2023-07-12). "Campaign to Recall Oakland Reform District Attorney Gets Rolling". The Intercept. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  3. ^ Phillips, Justin (2023-11-16). "If facts aren't driving the Pamela Price recall then what is?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  4. ^ Embattled Alameda County DA Pamela Price responds to recall effort, critics, CBS News, July 17, 2023
  5. ^ a b c d Wilson, Scott (2023-03-20). "Oakland's DA urges more lenient sentences even amid fears over crime". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  6. ^ "Meet the DA". Office of the Alameda County District Attorney. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  7. ^ a b c d Cohen, Andrew (2023-02-27). "Alameda County's First Black DA, Pamela Price '82, Details Her Path to Making History — and Change". Berkeley Law News. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  8. ^ a b Fawcett, Eliza; Arango, Tim (2023-06-08). "Liberal Prosecutors Are Revisiting Police Killings but Charging Few Officers So Far". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  9. ^ I-Team obtains Alameda Co. DA's email; lesser sentence for Jasper Wu's alleged killers?, ABC7 News, March 30, 2023
  10. ^ Li, Han (2023-06-08). "Jasper Wu Killing: What's Next in Toddler Murder Case". The San Francisco Standard. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  11. ^ Price, Pamela (2023-04-14). "A statement from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Y. Price on SPECIAL DIRECTIVE 23-01". Office of the Alameda County District Attorney. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  12. ^ Raguso, Emilie (2024-03-04). "DA Pamela Price hit with discrimination, retaliation claims". The Berkeley Scanner. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  13. ^ Rodgers, Jakob (2024-03-05). "Alameda County DA Pamela Price's former spokesperson alleges racist behavior and open-records violations in legal claim". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  14. ^ Effort to recall Alameda County DA Pamela Price takes major step forward, CBS Bay Area, August 15, 2023
  15. ^ Curry, Ruan (2023-10-15). "Recall group for Alameda Co. DA Pamela Price begins collecting signatures ahead of election year". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  16. ^ a b "Group submits petition to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price - CBS San Francisco". www.cbsnews.com. 2024-03-04. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  17. ^ "Alameda County, California, Measure B, Recall of Officers Charter Amendment (March 2024)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  18. ^ Raguso, Emilie (2024-04-16). "Pamela Price recall campaign says there will be an election". The Berkeley Scanner. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pamela_Price&oldid=1220306776"