LOS ANGELES (CN) — Two candidates vying to clinch Los Angeles County’s district attorney seat brandished their credentials as criminal justice reformers on the debate stage Thursday while blasting the incumbent’s record as reflective of fear-based policy-making.
The election for the leadership role at the largest county prosecutorial agency in the country pits LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey against two reform-minded candidates who say the incumbent’s policies have exacerbated harm in communities of color.
Former public defender Rachel Rossi and former San Francisco DA George Gascón took their seats alongside an empty chair for Lacey left onstage by debate cohosts National Council of Jewish Women LA.
When moderators asked how the DA could support people, particularly women, re-entering communities after leaving prison, Gascón said re-entry should begin six months before someone leaves prison, and that programs should be formed in part by people who’ve been incarcerated.
Rossi said women have often been left out of system reforms and that decarceration begins with DAs filing fewer felony charges and having officers reduce arrests of women for low-level offenses.
The candidates refrained from deriding Lacey for only attending one public debate in the race before the March 3 primary.
Lacey, a Democrat who was elected in 2012, declined an invitation to the debate, saying in a statement last week she will tentatively skip all debates due to activists disrupting her and preventing her from being heard.
At a January debate, members of an LA police accountability coalition repeatedly interrupted Lacey with loud chants and blasted her record while in office.
The debate was the first time Lacey publicly debated other candidates who want to remove her from the office she has held since 2012.
LA resident Joelle Dobrow said she hasn’t been following the race closely and Lacey’s absence deprived her of a full picture of the field.
“I have no way to compare her with other candidates,” Dobrow said.
Lacey, the first woman and first black person in her position, has touted her effort to divert people with mental illness from jail.
But Gascón said Lacey has fallen short of developing programs to divert people with mental illness from incarceration.
“People that are mentally ill do not do well in incarceration settings,” Gascón said. “We need to bring mental health professionals to the table.”
In prior responses to criticism she hasn’t criminally charged police officers who unlawfully kill or harm civilians, Lacey said the cases wouldn’t meet a high evidentiary standard in court.
Rossi told the audience the relationship between police and prosecutors is too close and that she would establish an independent body to prosecute police misconduct cases.
If an independent body couldn’t be set up within the county, Rossi said she would explore removing cases to federal prosecutors or the attorney general’s office.
Lacey made waves Thursday when she announced her office will toss 66,000 felony and misdemeanor marijuana convictions in LA County.
In a statement, Lacey said the move would benefit communities of color negatively impacted by decades of racial disparities in the criminal legal system.
Of those who will receive relief, 32% are black, 20% are white and 45% are Latino, according to Lacey’s office, which filed court papers this week seeking dismissal of cases stretching as far back as 1961.
