Platform
In 2018 and 2019, the District Attorney’s Office saw an average of 60,00 cases filed with each year. Of those 60,000 cases, the cases filed most frequently were low-quantity drug cases. To be more efficient with the Office’s limited resources, DA Gonzales implemented a marijuana declination policy and a controlled substance declination policy. The high volume of these cases was taking many needed resources away from prosecuting more serious, violent offenses. In 2018, 4,525 possession of marijuana (0-2 oz) cases were filed with the Office, but because of DA Gonzales’ declination policies that number dropped down to 16 possession of marijuana (0-2 oz) cases filed with the Office in 2020. The decrease in low-level drug cases has allowed DA Gonzales to re-focus valuable resources away from low-level non-violence offense to better prosecuting violent crimes, like domestic violence.