A California district attorney’s office provided training materials to employees teaching that the criminal justice system is rooted in racism and slavery, documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.
The presentation, used by Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price’s office to train victim-witness advocates and titled “A New Paradigm For Public Safety Restorative Justice Racial Justice Act Training,” teaches that “the carceral state grew out of chattel slavery” and makes several references to racial bias in the criminal justice system. Price, who is Soros-funded, currently faces a recall effort after residents expressed frustration with her policies, which they allege led to an increase in crime.
Victim-witness advocates “serve as the liaison between the victims, prosecutor, law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies,” according to the Alameda County district attorney’s website. The training is currently in use by Price’s office, a spokesperson confirmed to the DCNF.
One slide in the presentation asserts that “modern policing grew out of slave patrols” and claims that “slavery was never fully abolished in the US,” citing the 13th Amendment, which allows for the application of “involuntary servitude” with convicted criminals.
A New Paradigm for Public Saftey Restorative Justice Racial Justice Act Training by brandonp.dcnf on Scribd
Another slide titled “The Myth Of Black Male Criminality” asserts that “Americans can tolerate mass incarceration because it happens to ‘others’ and is justified by this narrative.” The training also claims that black men are disproportionately targeted by the criminal justice system, highlighting a statistic showing that black men make up 6.5% of the U.S. population and 40.2% of “prison population.”
“This idea that restorative justice should be applied widely across the board just doesn’t play out, particularly as restorative justice models are used for more serious crimes,” Zach Smith, senior legal fellow at the Edwin Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF. “Generally speaking, Pamela Price’s office and other offices where rogue prosecutors are in power, there is the feeling that offenders are not being held adequately accountable.”
The office also uses another training, also obtained by the DCNF, titled “An Invitation to Disability Justice,” which teaches victim-witness advocates to oppose “societally constructed ideas of normalcy, intelligence, excellence and productivity” like “good/bad,” “beautiful/ugly,” and “smart/dumb.”
Both trainings, which are dated June 2023, are in use by Price’s office, a spokesperson confirmed to the DCNF.
An Invitation to Disability Justice (1) by brandonp.dcnf on Scribd
One slide asserts that phrases such as “falling on deaf ears,” “blind leading the blind,” and “emotionally crippled” are inappropriate. People should not say somebody “suffers from” a disability or is “wheelchair-bound,” but should instead say someone “is disabled” or “uses a wheelchair,” according to the training.
Leaders of the Price recall effort turned in a petition March 4 after collecting over 123,000 signatures, ABC7 News reported.
Crime in Oakland, California, which is Alameda County’s biggest city, was up 26% in 2023. The city’s violent crime index, which combines violent crimes such as killings, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, was up 15% in 2023.
Price previously offered a man allegedly involved in three murders a 15-year plea deal in March 2023, which was thrown out by the judge, ABC7 reported. She also extended a plea deal to the alleged murderer of two brothers who were killed in Oakland in 2021, according to Fox KTVU.
“If you’re not actually charging people and holding them accountable, they’re going back out on the street,” Save Alameda for Everyone recall campaign organizer Brenda Grisham previously told the DCNF. “We’re talking people that have killed people are back out on the street.”
Price’s office released a memo in April 2023 that said prosecutors should avoid using enhancements to charges. Another memo in March 2023 announced that the penalty for most crimes in the county would be restricted to probation or the lowest possible prison term, with exceptions for crimes including murder and sex offenses involving children, according to The Berkeley Scanner.
“Almost all felonies, including those that are serious or violent, will now be probation eligible,” one anonymous source within Price’s office told The Berkeley Scanner. “You basically have to make a probation offer.”
Price did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Brandon Poulter on March 14, 2024