FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 15, 2024
Contact: media@colorofchange.org
COLOR OF CHANGE RELEASES NEW COALITION LETTER DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY IN ALAMEDA COUNTY DEATH PENALTY SCANDAL
Oakland, California – Today, Color Of Change – one of the nation’s foremost racial justice organizations, with millions of members nationwide in partnership with the 8th Amendment Project, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action – California, and eight other faith-based, human rights, and criminal legal reform community-based organizations in California released a new letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta calling for justice and accountability in the recently revealed scandal involving the decades-long, unconstitutional exclusion of Black, Jewish, and queer jurors from Alameda County death penalty cases. This abhorrent prosecutorial misconduct – hidden by prior administrations – was unveiled through the transparency of District Attorney Pamela Price’s administration.
The letter outlines a number of demands within the Attorney General’s discretion that would account for these injustices: 1) provide swift resolution for the dozens of currently incarcerated people who received unfair trials due to this prosecutorial misconduct, 2) launch a pattern-or-practice investigation into both the systemic removal and lack of inclusion of Black and Jewish jurors in Alameda County death penalty cases during the last several decades, and 3) collaborate with the State Bar of California and the California Commission on Judicial Performance to ensure that all current, former, and retired prosecutors implicated in this scandal are appropriately held accountable.
“Our communities continue to be disturbed at how racist, antisemitic, and queerphobic practices were allowed to become commonplace within the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with no concern about people’s rights to a fair trial regardless of what they are accused of,” said Queen Adesuyi, policy strategist with Color Of Change. “Providing relief to currently incarcerated people who were subjected to constitutional violations, launching a thorough pattern-or-practice investigation, and ensuring that there are consequences for implicated prosecutors and judges are paramount in order to deliver justice and accountability for prosecutorial and judicial misconduct of this magnitude. We call on Attorney General Bonta to avoid the mistakes of prior administrations by taking swift action and working collaboratively with District Attorney Pamela Price.”
Color Of Change is open to comment on the decision to release the letter.
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ABOUT COLOR OF CHANGE:
Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over 7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org.