‘It breaks my heart what is happening in our office and it breaks my heart what that is doing to our community’
Maria Ramirez has worked in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for more than 30 years.
Now, for the first time, she’s sad – and angry.
“It breaks my heart what is happening in our office and it breaks my heart what that is doing to our community,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez is running to replace current DA George Gascon, who she says is simply not serving the community and has placed too much emphasis on ideology.
She acknowledges the need for criminal justice reform, but said Gascon has gone about it completely wrong.
Gascon’s focus on “de-carceration” – keeping people out of jail – should not “be the goal” of a district attorney’s office.
There need to be certain alternatives for certain offenders rather than jail or prison, but Gascon has shown “no concern with what happens on the tail end” because of his strict ideological path, said Ramirez, adding that the removal of even the threat of jail for low-level addiction-related crimes undercuts the premise of diversion and treatment.
“There’s no incentive now to participate in the alternative,” Ramirez said.