As many members of the national press wrote obituaries for the criminal justice reform movement in California on June 7, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton was navigating re-election.

The same night that 56% of San Francisco voters recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin, 56% of Contra Costa County voters re-elected Becton. She was one of four Bay Area contestants to earn a victory over “tough on crime” opponents in local races.

Becton, a black woman who won the prosecutor’s office for the first time in 2018, defeated an opponent backed by police unions.

“What happened in San Francisco probably has a very unique set of factors that we would need to contextualize within the broader context of the ongoing movement for change in the criminal justice legal system,” Becton said, pushing back against the idea that Boudin’s ouster was a setback for reform. “Communities continue to elect leaders who reflect new thinking, and this is happening even in the face of some well-funded forces who seem to want to drive a narrative of fear that really doesn’t fit the facts and data.”

The winning candidates

She wasn’t the only woman of color to celebrate a victorious election night. In Alameda County, a shameless pro-reform candidate named Pamela Price won 43% of the vote in the DA race. She beat out three other candidates, putting her in good stead to win in November.

Yesenia Sanchez, a pro-reform candidate for Alameda County Sheriff, won more than 52% of the vote in that race. She beat her boss, an incumbent who has held the position for 15 years and stalled with 31%.

Like Sanchez, Christina Corpus also won her race. The San Mateo County sheriff candidate ran on a message of reform, sweeping 55% of the vote to beat her incumbent boss.

“It is only through inclusion and collaboration that we as law enforcement officers can understand our community, its needs and its concerns,” said Corpus, who could not be reached for comment on their campaign website. “Greater community engagement will better equip us to meet our current challenges, including improving relationships with our immigrant community, criminal justice reform, serving people with mental health issues, and tackling violence. ‘roaming.

Corpus and Sanchez will go down in history as California’s first Latino sheriffs.

Four colored women. Four fervent supporters of criminal justice reform. Four tough races against tough opponents in counties where, like everywhere else, crime is a major problem. Four campaigns that refute the narrative that California voters have turned their backs on developing a justice system that doesn’t rely on incarceration as the primary solution.

The False Account of Boudin’s Recall

Boudin’s recall has become a national flashpoint, providing a simple but false indicator of how voters in the state are feeling about criminal justice reform. It was a seductive tale: voters in ultra-liberal San Francisco rejecting an ultra-progressive DA because they want a return to “tough” criminal policies. Yet polls have consistently shown voters still support reform, even as they have grown more worried about the perception of rising crime.

“Even if you were just to read the tea leaves for the Bay Area, it was a vote for reform,” said Ludovic Blain, executive director of the California Donor Table, an organization that supports progressive candidates and has funded a independent spending campaign for Price. .

The strong presence of these four candidates on election night proves that voters believe reform is the key to public safety – and that the reform movement continues to grow.

“I think voters talked about the fact that we can still have law and order and hold people accountable for the crimes they commit, as well as being able to look at crime prevention in another way,” said Sanchez. “Just locking people up and throwing away the key doesn’t work anymore.”

“California have overwhelmingly recognized that we need to be progressive in how we approach criminal justice and public safety,” Price said. “Our criminal justice system is outdated, outdated and needs bold change to truly ensure public safety. And I think people understand that. Certainly the people of Alameda County understand that what we have done is not working.

Common points between the winners

The winning candidates have a few things in common.

All have been active in their community for a long time. Becton spent 22 years as a local judge. Corpus and Sanchez have spent their careers rising through the ranks in the departments they have now been elected to lead. Price has worked for decades to distinguish herself as a prominent civil rights lawyer in the community where she could soon become chief prosecutor.

With the exception of Price, all of these women have roots rooted in law enforcement. As a judge, Becton both sentenced people to prison and diverted them to programs. Corpus and Sanchez spent decades as officers of the law. Thus, while their messages are pro-reformist, no one can accuse them of wanting to “defund the police”.

Becton said his experience as a judge gave him a sense of “poise” – a key word in the reform debate.

“I obviously had to sit in the space to hear both sides of the story and often make decisions that weren’t always popular, but always trying to keep that kind of balanced approach,” he said. Becton said about his experience as a judge shaped his opinions.

“There definitely has to be a balance,” Sanchez said. “I want to make sure it’s clear that I’m not a ‘soft on crime’ candidate. If an individual commits a crime, they should be held accountable.”

All of the women interviewed said state and local governments need to do more to fund alternatives to incarceration and services to help the homeless and mentally ill.

“Mental illness is not a crime,” Price said, adding that it should be treated as a “public health issue” rather than a police issue.

Becton said one of public safety’s most crucial tasks is to “push to try to stop crime from happening in the first place” with programs to address mental illness, addiction and low-level offenses. level before they lead to bigger problems.

“We’re running out of treatment centers, we’re running out of housing,” said Sanchez, who will run the Santa Rita jail as sheriff. “There is definitely a shortfall.”

The turning point of the June 7 elections

The June 7 election marked a turning point in favor of criminal justice reform, and not just in the Bay Area. Michael Shellenberger and Anne Marie Schubert, who ran for governor and attorney general on anti-reform platforms, suffered humiliating losses.

In Los Angeles, Republican-turned-Democrat mall mogul Rick Caruso, who projected a tough image and promised to clean up the streets, spent $40 million to secure second place in the Los Angeles mayoral primary. Rep. Karen Bass, a pro-reform leader, took first place.

“Rick Caruso spent several yachts’ money trying to win a majority so he could win the primary straight away,” Blain said, predicting a rocky climb for Caruso in November’s general election. “He wouldn’t have spent all that money because he was okay with finishing second. He knew his best chance was to win the primary.

Boudin’s loss was undoubtedly a big disappointment for progressives in San Francisco, but her downfall shouldn’t overshadow the pro-reform women who achieved very different results on the same night. Their victories tell the true story of the criminal justice reform movement in California.