Key Facts
Background
Pamela Price received a B.A. from Yale University and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law [2]. She is a civil rights attorney specializing in employment litigation. Price started her own firm in 1991, and has since represented victims of retaliation, wrongful termination, sexual assault, sex, age, religion, disability, and race-based discrimination [1]. She previously worked as a criminal defense attorney at the Bayview Hunters’ Point Community Defenders’ office in San Francisco [6].
In 1977, she was the lead plaintiff in Alexander v. Yale, which was the first sexual harassment lawsuit in education and helped define sexual harassment as a form of illegal sex discrimination [8]. In 1979, Price co-founded and coordinated the Bay Area Defense Committee for Battered Women, and from 1982-84 she co-chaired the Bay Area chapter of the National Conference of Black Lawyers. In 2007, she served as the Interim Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in SF, and, in 2016, she was elected to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee.
She has been awarded the California Lawyer Attorney of the Year in Employment, the Woman of the Year for Assembly District 18, the NAACP Service Award, and the National Bar Association’s Heman Marion Sweatt Award. Price is a survivor of domestic violence, and the Ohio foster care and juvenile justice systems [1]. She currently lives in Alameda County.
Key Issues
Criminal Justice
Price wants to restore trust in the criminal justice system by completing and publishing investigative reports in a timely manner, tracking and publishing demographic data about the prosecution process, and treating victims, families, witnesses, and defendants with respect [1]. She wants to fund and support a Conviction Integrity Unit to evaluate unfair prosecutions and excessive sentencing practices with a focus on racially-based prosecutions [6].
Price also wants to fund and implement fair justice measures including support and advocacy for neighborhood courts, victim services, diversion programs, race-neutral bail, and sentencing reforms [1]. She wants to address discrimination based on race, sex, gender identity, and immigration status, and pursue alternatives to incarceration, especially individuals suffering from mental illness [2, 6]. Price wants to stop the over-criminalization of youth by not charging or incarcerating individuals younger than 18 as adults, and establishing alternate programs to address criminal violations by individuals between 18-25 [1, 2]. Price wants to end the death penalty [1].
Price also wants to establish and enforce metrics for evaluating prosecutor’s performance that don’t rely on conviction rates [1]. She wants to evaluate diversion and positive intervention rates, develop systemic tracking of individual prosecutor’s outcomes, and address public corruption within the District Attorney’s office [6]. Lastly, Price wants to establish and fund effective reentry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals [1]. She supports removing barriers to education and employment, addressing inequitable criminal justice-related fines and fees, and creating institutional support for family reunification, housing access, job training and opportunities, healthcare, and legal services [2].
Gun Policy
Price wants to reduce gun violence by implementing preventative measures, advocating for better and more prompt investigation and resolution of cases of violence, and providing more support and trauma-informed assistance to victims of gun violence and their families [1].
Immigration
Price wants to protect immigrant and indigenous communities. She wants to enforce and follow the mandates and spirit of the Sanctuary City resolutions adopted in Alameda County [1].
Law Enforcement
Price wants to hold police accountable for unlawful conduct such as unjustifiable homicide, human and sex trafficking, domestic violence, excessive or discriminatory use of force, sexual assault, theft, and perjury [1, 6].
Social Programs
Price wants to increase investment in public health, foster educational and economic opportunities, and support social service interventions as alternatives to law enforcement involvement [1].
Endorsements
Delaine Eastin, Former CA State Superintendent of Public Instruction & Assemblymember; Angela Davis, Activist and author; Susan Burton, Founder of A New Way of Life; Fania Davis, Founder of Restorative Justice of Oakland; Carl E. Douglas, Civil Rights Attorney; Patricia Ann Ford, Former Executive Vice President of SEIU 1000; Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, Founder of the Love Not Blood campaign; Rev. Wanda R. Johnson, Founder and CEO of the Oscar Grant Foundation; Hon. Larry Krasner, Philadelphia District Attorney; Catherine MacKinnon, Law Professor at University of Michigan and Harvard; Julianne Malveaux, Former president of Bennett College; Howard Moore, Jr., Civil Rights Attorney; Dorsey Nunn, Executive Director of All of Us or None; Dr. David A. Thomas, President of Morehouse College; Hon. Nina Turner, Former Ohio State Senator; Hon. Dezie Woods Jones, State President of Black Women Organized for Collective Action; Norma Alcala, City of West Sacramento City Council; James Aguilar, Trustee, San Leandro School Board; Victor Aguilar, Jr., Vice Mayor, San Leandro City Council; Vinnie Bacon, Former Member, Fremont City Council; Jovanka Beckles, Director, Alameda Contra Costa Transit District; Steven Cassidy, Former Mayor, San Leandro City Council; James Chang, Commissioner, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board; Sarabjit Cheema, Trustee, New Haven Unified School Board; Cheryl Davila, Former Member, Berkeley City Council; Scott Donahue, Vice Mayor, Emeryville City Council; Ge’Nell Gary, Mayor, Albany City Council; Surlene Grant, Former Vice-Mayor, San Leandro City Council; Kate Harrison, Berkeley City Council; Mike Hutchinson, Director, Oakland Unified School District; Kevin Jenkins, Trustee, Peralta School District; Dianne Jones, Trustee, Fremont Unified School Board; Jenny Kassan, Fremont City Council, Attorney; Michael Katz-LaCabe, Former San Leandro School Board President; Brittni Kiick, Livermore City Council; Michael Kusiak, Trustee, Castro Valley School Board; Paola Laverde, Commissioner, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board; Nancy J. Nadel, Former Member, Oakland City Council; Gus Newport, Former Berkeley Mayor; Christian Rodriguez, Sr., Trustee, San Leandro School Board; Melissa Shuen-Mallory, Trustee, New Haven Unified School Board; Sara Prada, Trustee, Hayward Unified School District; Jean Quan, Former Mayor, City of Oakland; Wilson Riles, Jr., Former Member, Oakland City Council; Sandre Swanson, Former California State Assemblymember; Julie Testa, Pleasanton City Council; John H. Weed, Director, Alameda County Water District; Van Cedric Williams, Director, Oakland Unified School District. Jamie Yee, Former Trustee, Pleasanton Unified School District; Carolyn Fowler, Chair, California Womens Caucus; Taisha Brown, Former Chair, California Black Caucus; Carlos Alcala, Chair, California Chicano Latino Caucus; Amar Shergill, Chair, California Progressive Caucus; Crystal Araujo, Former Commissioner, City of Hayward; Michael Barnett, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee; Art Douglas Blacksher, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee; Andrea Luna Bocanegra, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee; Melody Davis, Political Action Director, Oakland East Bay Democratic Club, Co-Founder, Parent Voices; Howard Egerman, President, Oakland East Bay Democratic Club; Cheri Johansen, Former President, City of Alameda Democratic Club; Sandra Johnson, Co-Chair, John George Democratic Club; Jack Kurzweil, Coordinator, Wellstone Renewal Democratic Club; Bobbi Lopez, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee; Tonya Love, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee; Kiisha Orr, Vice President, Oakland East Bay Democratic Club; Rivka Polatnick, Criminal Justice Chair, Wellstone Renewal Democratic Club; Royl Roberts, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee; Walter Riley, Co-Chair, John George Democratic Club; Barisha Spriggs, President, Southern Alameda County Progressive Democrats; Austin Tam, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee; Jackie Tarin-Rankl, Secretary, Tri-Valley Democratic Club; Alfred Twu, Former Chair, East Bay Young Democrats, Artist & Designer; Julie Diaz Waters, California Democratic Party Executive Board; David Weintraub, Education Chair, Wellstone Renewal Democratic Club; Dan Wood, Former Vice-President, City of Alameda Democratic Club, former CDP Delegate
Sources
1 Pamela Price for DA
2 Ballotpedia
3 Facebook
4 Pamela Price Attorney at Law
5 Oakland Side
6 Oakland Side: Primary Candidates
7 Pleasanton Weekly
8 Justia