City Government

Contra Costa County DA Diana Becton Describes Accomplishments in Letter to Voters

Change is hard, but it is necessary to serve and protect our community.

Published

5 years ago

June 30, 2021

Isabelle Price

Diana Becton

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I won’t lie to you. Being a progressive district attorney is a challenging job. I was elected to bring change, and resistance to that change is something I encounter every single day.

But I am not accountable to those who resist. I am accountable to voters like you. And every day I am very clear about why I am here.

First and foremost, my job is to keep our community safe. This requires focusing the resources of the District Attorney’s office on prosecuting serious crimes. It requires exploring opportunities with the potential to reduce future crime by helping individuals become healthy and productive members of our community. It requires an unwavering commitment to the integrity of our work to provide justice for victims of crime.

Change is hard, but it is necessary to serve and protect our community. Here are some of the changes I have made so far:

Established the Office’s first Human Trafficking Unit. This unit is tasked with developing a collaborative, comprehensive approach to combat exploitation of persons for sex or labor, to coordinate victim services, and to raise community awareness of these serious crimes.

Eliminated the backlog of untested sexual assault kits that sat on the shelves of local law enforcement agencies in Contra Costa County.

Proactively dismissed thousands of old marijuana convictions that only served as obstacles to people trying to live as productive members of the community.

Joined a bipartisan statewide district attorney effort to re-sentence and release people whose confinement is no longer in the interest of justice by elevating the use of AB 2942, which allows prosecutors to petition the court for re-sentencing in support of an individual’s successful return to the community.

Created the first stand-alone Conviction Integrity Unit. The unit investigates prior convictions and seeks justice for the wrongly convicted.

Prioritized charging decisions away from low-level nonviolent offenses by diverting individuals to substance abuse treatment and other relevant programs and services.

These changes improve our justice system for every member of our community. Change may be hard, but it is necessary to meet the challenges and changes we face every day as a community.