Los Angeles, CA, February 2, 2021 –  

Today, the Deputy District Attorney’s Association of Los Angeles County has their day in court with newly-elected District Attorney George Gascón, who has been in office since December 7th, 2020, and was elected on November 3rd.  Gascón’s election led to an end to the 8-year era of District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who was long-critiqued for her oppressive policies and regressive “tough-on-crime approach.”  Voters chose George Gascón by a convincing margin, and Lacey, and all that her Office stood for (a disturbing lack of accountability for law enforcement officers who have violently stolen the lives of our loved ones, harsh, hyper-punitive sentencing, and a “No” vote on Props 47 and 57) was rejected by voters and ousted from office.

It’s no surprise that upon the election of George Gascón, the County’s Deputy District Attorneys, or line-DAs, are rejecting his meaningful policy changes. Line-prosecutors have long been indoctrinated into a culture of extreme sentencing, rewards for prosecution,  and an adherence to over-reaching prosecutorial bravado. These features of the Office are also the culture of criminal legal system as a whole, and the legacy of the 1980s and 1990s era hyper-punitive, deeply racist, classist “tough-on-crime” approach: a mindset and set of laws encouraging District Attorneys to seek County jail and State prison time without a thought about the impact these policies and prosecutorial decisions have on community members’ lives.

 In Gascón’s first week, he put forward a number of sweeping reforms, including ending the charging youth as adults, ending the filing of sentencing enhancements, re-sentencing cases that were previously filed with an enhancement, and reopening the cases of our loved ones whose lives have been stolen by law enforcement officers as far back as 2012. He also extended compensation allocated for victims of crime to those who are survivors of law enforcement violence and murder. These progressive reforms are steps in the right direction, and Dignity and Power NOW has long encouraged these actions, while also demanding a reduction in the size and scope of the District Attorney’s office. We’ve also demanded a redirection of funding from the DA’s Office to the 2015-created Office of Diversion and Re-entry, and to community-based programs, such as survivor services, that exist separate and apart from the District Attorney’s office.

Yet now, the progressive changes that Gascón ordered on day one are being contested in court by the prosecutors that work under him. During Gascón’s first week in office, Deputy District Attorneys filed a suit challenging his order to end the filing of sentencing enhancements, including gang enhancements and “three strikes” enhancements. The suit mounted by the Deputy DA’s  is deeply unjust: sentencing enhancements are racist and classist, and destroy the lives of our community members.

Dr. Lamia El Sadek, Executive Director of Dignity and Power NOW, says, “For the Deputy District Attorney’s Association to sue Gascón because he implemented progressive policy changes that were promised on the campaign trail is regressive and abhorrent. We know that voters chose a transformation of our criminal legal system, leading away from an era of tough-on-crime approaches and towards an era of investing in care and community. The Deputy District Attorney’s Association is attempting to block progress to protect their own interests, and this selfish, insidious approach harms our community members and stalls the progress of our movements. We cannot stand for it.”

Dignity and Power NOW names the urgent need to support the progressive reforms coming out of DA Gascón’s office. We know that District Attorney’s Associations aren’t actually unions that fight for fair wages and safe, humane working conditions. Instead, they are powerful, corrupt special interests who protect Deputy District Attorney & law enforcement abuse, as well as bloated District Attorney and law enforcement budgets.  Given that Dignity and Power NOW believes in defunding the District Attorney’s office and funding systems of community-based care, we strongly oppose the protectionist cronyism of the Deputy District Attorney’s Association. Lex Steppling, Dignity and Power NOW’s Director of Campaigns and Policy says, “The Deputy DA’s are showing a commitment to a long discredited status quo rather then a commitment to public safety, accountability, and ethics. They should be utterly ashamed.”

This suit filed by the Deputy District Attorneys also defies the direction and power of our social movements and the choices of voters more broadly. The election ushered in a new era of sweeping changes made by the District Attorney, and his election was made possible by civil uprisings outside of the District Attorney’s Office, and the momentum of our people-powered movements for years prior to this tipping point. For the Deputy District Attorney’s office to challenge this transformation in court is regressive, obstructionist, and unjust. Continuing to try to defend “tough-on-crime” sentencing enhancements when the lived experience of our community members, and the data, show that these approaches destroy lives and don’t reduce crime, is a backward, small-minded approach. Michael Saavedra, Community Engagement Organizer with Dignity and Power NOW, says, “Gascón’s policies of ending sentence enhancements and opening up cases for resentencing are crucial day-one moves. People have already done their time, and having them do extra time for a sentencing enhancement when they could come home early is wrong.  By re-sentencing people who are currently serving a sentence enhancement, people have a chance to re-enter our communities earlier, and have their lives outside of prison begin sooner. Challenging Gascón’s move to end the filing of sentence enhancements is a vengeful, immoral move on behalf of the Deputy District Attorneys.”

What’s more, in addition to dropping sentencing enhancements, Gascón also promised to reopen the cases of officer-involved use-of-force and officer-involved shootings dating back to 2012. His office will work with the Law School at University of California- Irvine to reopen these cases. Helen Jones, Community Organizer with Dignity and Power NOW, whose son, John Horton’s life was stolen in 2009 by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Deputies while he was being held in custody, says, “It’s essential that all of our cases be reopened. Any time when the County Coroner is in question, cases should be reopened to reveal what really happened to our babies and to give grieving families answers. Gascón is taking a first step, and for District Attorney’s to be undermining him in court proves that they are in bed with law enforcement and would never actually hold killer law enforcement officers accountable. Rather than challenge Gascón on these enhancements, we need to be focused on supporting his policies of reopening families’ cases, and push him to look back further than 2012 to make sure that no families get left behind.” Saharra White, Community Engagement Organizer with Dignity and Power NOW, agrees, saying “When I lost my loved one, Quinten Thomas, I and our daughter, Ashanti, needed support. It is crucial that we hold these Deputy District Attorneys accountable for their actions, and not allow them to protect law enforcement interests instead of the lives and legacies of our stolen community members.”

Los Angeles, CA, January 29th, 2021 –  

The Center for Juvenile Law and Policy (CJLP) at the Loyola Law School has released a report, “50 Years of Deputy Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” that rigorously documents evidence of deputy gangs throughout the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), and the impact these gangs have on our communities. The report is a culmination of over a year’s worth of research spanning legal documents, internal memos and interviews. It states, “The proliferation of deputy gangs and cliques within the LASD for nearly 50 years is not happenstance. Many LASD members have embraced a warrior model of policing in which deputies behave like an occupying force over the communities they police.”

Dignity and Power NOW has long been pointing out the existence and harms of deputy gangs in LASD, and demanding accountability. The CJLP’s “50 Years” report is important in that it amplifies what families of people killed by LA County Sheriff’s deputies have been saying for generations: that corruption, violence, and terror run rampant in LASD. The harms of gangs in the Department are yet another reason that we must divest from law enforcement and invest in systems of community care.  DPN has long been advocating that we shift resources away from the Sheriff’s and Probation Departments, and towards community-based and front-end approaches to public safety.  

  Dr. Lamia El Sadek, Executive Director of Dignity and Power NOW, says, “For too long, it has been an open secret that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is replete with violent deputy gangs, secrecy, and corruption. Dignity and Power NOW’s very mission is to address this corruption, and to simultaneously build a world that centers healing justice and care rather than violence.  We are encouraged by the important evidence that this LMU CJLP Report brings to light, while we also prioritize the testimony of our community members who have experienced this violence firsthand. Our organizers and family members will not stop demanding accountability for deputy violence, and simultaneously fighting for broader social transformation.”

Los Angeles County officials, media outlets, and scholars must believe community members when they share their experiences of law enforcement trauma. Lex Steppling, Director of Campaigns and Policy at Dignity and Power NOW, sheds light on this, saying, “This public reckoning would have come much sooner had the voices of the community been listened to consistently by the press and academia.”

Dignity and Power NOW staff stress the hypocrisy of criminalizing, arresting and killing our community members for so-called affiliation with gangs, while deputy gangs run rampant in LASD. Labeling a community member as a ‘gang member’ has become a proxy for race and class identity in impacted communities. This labeling destroys peoples’ lives, while LASD simultaneously has thriving Sheriff gangs that have existed for generations without scrutiny. James Nelson, Senior Advocacy Lead with Dignity and Power NOW, says, “Our tax dollars should not be funding LASD Deputy gangs. As someone who was impacted by an officer gang in LAPD, I know first-hand the corruption and inhumanity of these law enforcement gangs. It’s  hypocrisy that sworn officers are not held accountable for their violence, yet criminalize members of our community. They have a stronghold over the Department because they are never disciplined.”

As a further expression of this sick double standard, when incarcerated members of our communities express affiliations with cultural symbols of Chicano and Black identity, this inevitably leads to being placed in a gang database. These gang databases are racial profiling, yet are wrongfully used as a tool to decide the futures of Black and Brown youth. Gang enhancements are not only used to extend sentencing, but also impact where a person is locked up when they are incarcerated, what programming they will be able to access inside, whether they will be able to get education and job training, and whether they will be eligible for early transitional housing when they are approaching being allowed to re-enter our communities. In a moment when newly-elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon is facing opposition for his day-one mandate to end sentencing enhancements, it is essential now more than ever that we emphasize the harms of gang databases and gang enhancements, as well as the concurrent harms of violent deputy gangs. 

Michael Saavedra, Community Engagement Organizer with Dignity and Power NOW, says, “Gang databases and gang enhancements are racist tools to oppress and criminalize Black and Brown people. Incarceration based on racial identity goes back to the policing of Indigenous people in this County, and is part of a legacy of attempted genocide for specific ethnic groups.  That law enforcement officers can be known members of Deputy gangs, yet our communities can’t express pride for the Chicano flag, or their cultural literature, is the ultimate double standard. We need to end gang databases and sentencing enhancements, and also end the violence and terror of deputy gangs.”

Los Angeles, CA, January 25th, 2021 –  

On Friday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra launched a civil rights probe into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, promising to investigate their long-standing record of human rights abuses, deputy gang activity and use of lethal force in both the Los Angeles County jails as well as in our streets. Dr. Lamia El Sadek, Executive Director of Dignity and Power NOW, says, “Dignity and Power NOW has long been working towards accountability for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Our organization has its genesis in accountability for this Department, a Department that has shown generations of human rights abuses. The hard work of DPN staff and organizers has created this political moment. We are buoyed by this investigation, and will continue to demand accountability.”

Dignity and Power NOW grieves the loss of so many community members who have been stolen from us by this department, including Andres Guardado, Dijon Kizzee, A.J. Weber and John Horton.  Helen Jones, Community Organizer with Dignity and Power NOW, says, “This investigation is long overdue. We know that the sheriff has been stealing the lives of our loved ones since its creation, including my son, John. We are ready for Villanueva and the whole department to be seen for what they really are.”

We encourage this investigation to be as thorough and incisive as possible. Lex Steppling, Director of Campaigns and Policy at Dignity and Power NOW, underscores this, saying, “We all wish for institutions like the Attorney General’s Office to be credible. Historically, in matters of law enforcement accountability, they have not been. In matters of state violence, they have not been. This investigation could be a step in the direction of a long overdue reckoning, or it could end up an affirmation of the bad faith communities hold institutions in. We hope for the former, of course, and will continue to press forward in the direction of community safety and justice.”

As we mourn our loved ones whose lives have been stolen by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, we look towards accountability for the Department’s human rights abuses, and a reduction in the size and scope of the Department so that their reign of terror is ended.  James Nelson, Senior Advocacy Lead with Dignity and Power NOW, says, “Knowing the impact of Sheriff violence in the jails, it’s about time that they be held accountable. We (DPN) work with and support families that have been victimized by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.  It’s clear that we need to reign the Sheriff in to keep our people safe.”

In our longstanding organizing fights to hold the Sheriff accountable, we have won oversight and divestment mandates through  Measure R, and a significant reallocation of funds out of the Department through Measure J. Ivette Ale, Senior Policy Lead with Dignity and Power NOW, says, “For too long, billions of our tax dollars have been bankrolling the violence and corruption of the LA County Sheriff’s Department, while our communities have been defunded and terrorized. This exposition of their long-standing abuses will only empower our work for real public safety by shifting dollars out of the failed Sheriff’s Department and into care and community-based services. In a moment of such extreme uncertainty and loss, it would be irresponsible to continue funding the Sheriff at the expense of housing and health care.”

Today is Inauguration Day.

Dignity and Power Now acknowledges that today an important change is taking place at the Federal level. We are crystal clear about the many harms in the legislative and political records of the new administration. They have both caused lasting damage on criminal legal issues and immigration issues. Acknowledging this, we at Dignity and Power Now are also feeling buoyed with cautious optimism about the end of the Trump Administration.

Trump’s racist tirades, dictatorial behavior, and harmful policies have caused deep, lasting harm to our communities. He and his Administration have made insidious, retroactive changes to Federal Policy and to the Supreme Court that will take years to undo. Ending Trump’s attempt at a fascist regime — one that we know emboldened white supremacist violence worldwide — is a critical step forward for our progressive social movements. The Trump Administration’s sweeping cuts to our social safety net, and attempts to roll back the clock on human rights and racial, economic, and gender justice work, have reached an end. Despite numerous unjust and illegal attempts at voter suppression of our people from the right  — and despite the fact that the right has worked to strip the voting rights of those of us who are incarcerated and undocumented — they couldn’t stop us. Voters demanded that Trump’s unjust, racist, and immoral Administration be ousted in favor of justice.

When we look at the records of the Biden-Harris Administration, we know that intractable, lasting harm has been caused by the 1994 Crime Bill authored by then-Senator Joe Biden. We also know that former Senator and former District Attorney Harris caused long-term damage in her career as a prosecutor. We must remember these damaging parts of the new Democratic Presidential Administrations’ record, AND we know that our movements have gained unstoppable momentum over the past thirty years. 

Through our relentless advocacy and truth-telling, we have shown clearly the harms of Federal “tough-on-crime” policies and policies that criminalize migration. Because we have made known this trauma through our endless storytelling and organizing, we’ve ended the era where Democratic public officials can use dog whistle “tough-on-crime” and anti-immigrant rhetoric to appeal to a white establishment base to get elected. What’s more, newly elected officials are entering office after one of the longest and most sustained #BlackLivesMatter civil uprisings towards justice in history, and the pressure that movement organizers and uprisers have applied during this period has transformed the landscape for legislators.

As a result of our recent and long-term movement gains, the new Administration has pledged more progressive policies in the criminal legal arena, and in the areas of immigration policy, economic justice, health care policy, housing policy, and employment development policy, to name a few. The pressure we apply at the Federal level to ensure a progressive swing to federal policy will have a material impact on our people. We pledge to remain engaged to ensure that our movement policy analysis is as razor-sharp as it needs to be given the stakes. 

We know that our role as social movement organizers and activists is to hold the presidential Administration, and all elected officials, accountable. One such example of a national justice and accountability effort is the BREATHE Act, a federal bill  that our very own founder and Board Member, Patrisse Cullors, has co-authored in partnership with The Movement for Black Lives. The BREATHE Act, “divests our taxpayer dollars from brutal and discriminatory policing and invests in a new vision of public safety—a vision that answers the call to defund the police and allows all communities to finally BREATHE free.” Passing this Act will be far easier with a Democratic administration in place — so we look forward to celebrating its passage together imminently, and to starting an era that #DefendsBlackLife and reimagines public safety.

Today, we celebrate the end of an era of harm that emboldened white supremacist nationalists, homophobes, misogynists and the economic elite/ billionaire class. We pledge to move forward with an eye towards accountability and the implementation of progressive policies led by and centering us: Black and Brown folks, working class people, Muslims, queer people, immigrants, disabled people, femmes, undocumented people, young people, and all those that systems of oppression attempt to marginalize.

Dignity and Power Now is in this struggle with you; we will keep fighting together. 

Read the BREATHE Act and sign up to be a co-sponsor here.