Clayton officials quiz D.A. over prosecution policies

Becton hopes new community courts will fill a need in local system.

CLAYTON, CA (Nov. 11, 2021) — As Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton touted her mission to “seek justice and enhance public safety,” members of the City Council questioned the lack of prosecution for crimes such as shoplifting.

Citing an uptick in problems at the local Safeway, Councilmember Jim Diaz noted that Clayton police officers are frustrated with the system.

“In several cases that I’ve heard, they’re taken into custody and within less than a few hours that individual is released and no charges have been filed,” Diaz told Becton during the Oct. 19 virtual meeting.

While acknowledging the frustration, Becton said it’s not an issue that “generated with the D.A.’s office.”

Instead, she cited the Sheriff’s Department’s COVID protocols that advise law enforcement agencies “to try only to bring into custody those who are committing the most violent and dangerous crimes within our communities. Because once there are too many people in the jail, then an outbreak could affect a great number of people in our community.”

Also as a result of COVID, she said the state isn’t mandating any bail for misdemeanor cases.

“So, there’s really no ability to hold people in custody,” said Becton, who was appointed D.A. in 2017 and elected in 2018. She previously was a judge in the county for 22 years.

A matter of priorities

The Clayton discussion was among many this fall for Becton. She met with the Pleasant Hill council on Oct. 18 and is scheduled with the Concord council on Dec. 14. Concord officials have also expressed concern about the lack of prosecutions in recent years.

Diaz asked Becton if it was fair to say that her department puts a strong emphasis on the most violent crimes, “such as domestic violence and those kinds of things – so that the victim gets recognized.”

Becton called it “a partially fair assessment,” adding: “I’m not saying that we’re not paying attention to the other crimes. But I would say that if I had to prioritize my resources, I would certainly prioritize working on those cases where we have victims who have been harmed, who’ve had violence committed against them or who have suffered serious trauma because of someone else’s behavior.”

Diaz and Councilmember Holly Tillman both asked Becton to explain why individuals often aren’t charged until they’ve committed similar crimes several times.

With crowded court dockets and a limited number of public defenders, Becton said the county just doesn’t have the resources to file charges in every crime.

“Even though a single case of somebody taking $300 worth of food might not get attention in our court system, we’ve asked our agencies that when they have repeat offenders that they bundle those cases and bring them to us in a package so we have much more to work with when we bring them to trial,” she said.

Turning it back to the community

Becton also pointed to the county’s plan for Neighborhood Community Courts to handle some so-called “nuisance” cases.

The county is poised to recruit and train citizens to act as arbitrators on low-fine cases, and Becton said one court each in Central, East and West Contra Costa should be established by early 2022.

“So when those arrests happen, instead of filing charges and bringing them into the system, we can send those cases over to the arbitrators in your communities. So it doesn’t necessary just get ignored,” said Becton.

She used an example of someone being caught painting graffiti at City Hall.

“The arbitrators would hear the case and say: ‘I think an appropriate remedy would be for you to repaint the building.’ So the community gets made whole, and the person gets held accountable.”

What do victims want?

Councilmember Jeff Wan questioned the validity of such a program, saying that many victims would want those responsible “to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

That philosophy, he added, “seems to be in conflict with a lot of the programs that divert or try to reduce or mitigate sentencing time.”
Wan’s comments brought about an abrupt shift in tone from Becton, who then quietly and carefully shared a recent encounter with victims and survivors.

“One of the things that was very interesting is that there was nothing on the top of their priority list that said: ‘I need someone to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.’ People talked about needing information – where do I go to get help, how can I find a list of resources, how do I know what to do next,” she recounted. “And they also wanted to know how we get services to people who are accused of crimes so they do not come back into our communities the same way as they left.”

While acknowledging that perspective, Wan added: “I do think that there’s going to be a significant portion that do want accountability, and I think that’s going to be hard if we don’t have what I’d call zealous prosecution.”

A need for more data

Although Diaz called the D.A.’s presentation “informative and helpful,” he pressed Becton for more information about arrest and prosecution ratios – which she wasn’t able to provide. She also could not answer Tillman’s question about how 2020 prosecution stats compared with previous years.

“One of the things we don’t see from our prosecutor’s office is data,” Becton said. “Our case management system is really like opening up a file. So you can look in there and see the police report and those kinds of things, but it’s really not made for us to extract the kind of data that you’re asking us for.”

Noting that such transparency is “very important,” Becton said she hopes to have a data portal on the county website next year.
“You’ll be able to see what came into our door by category,” she said. “You’ll also be able to see what we filed, and you’ll be able to see where they came from in our county.”