Harris

Kamala Harris is San Francisco's district attorney, a post she has held since December 2003. It was the first uncontested race in the city since 1991, and in winning she became the first African American/Indian American elected to the office.

She spoke recently with IndUS Business Journal about her political ambitions.

In her second term, Harris, 44, is making a bid for the California attorney general's seat. General elections will be held Nov. 2, 2010, after a June 8 primary.

If elected, her main focus will be to drive down the number of recidivists in the California legal system.

Harris is dissatisfied with the number of repeat offenders in the state's prisons, which stands at 70 percent. "We can do a better job at focusing on prevention," she said. California has a recidivism rate of 70 percent among non-violent youth, according to Harris.

By focusing on keeping California's youth from re-offending, Harris says the state can curb costs related to law enforcement.

One way to achieve this, says Harris, is through the Back on Track program, which she created in collaboration with community service providers and the business sector. Fewer than 10 percent of the young offenders who have gone through Back on Track go on to re-offend, compared with 54 percent of those who do not, according to Harris.

Juvenile crime runs the gamut, including homicide and gang activity, truancy and property crime, Harris said.

As Harris points out, almost all juvenile offenders return to their families and communities from juvenile detention facilities and any program that helps with this reentry, such as Back on Track, is important to the success of the juvenile penal system.

Back on Track is currently only in San Francisco, but Harris is excited at the prospect of rolling it out statewide. "Many prosecutors from around the state of California have shown great interest in creating a program like Back on Track in their own counties. As attorney general, I will offer support to local district attorneys who want to start a program like Back on Track, or to pursue their own initiatives, tailored to the unique needs, local crime problems and resources available in each community across our state," Harris said.

Harris seems to broaden the definition of what a victim is by taking into account children eye witnesses to crime in addition to those whom crime is committed against.

Kids unfortunately bear witness to street and school violence, and many suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result, Harris said.

Harris said identification of these children is paramount in providing them the treatment and support they need in order to get back to learning.

Not all crimes start in childhood, and some began appearing at the onset of the spiraling economy, precipitating in part because of the economic climate, said Harris. Burglary and theft, fraud and financial abuses against the elderly are current crimes Harris said she will work hard to prevent.

"I think it will be very helpful to have an Attorney General who understands the work and the challenges faced by [California's] 58 elected district attorneys," said Harris.

"When I was growing up I was very much engaged in this movement to bring social justice to everyone. Even as a child I thought the lawyers were heroes … they were the ones who translated the passion from the streets into [legislation]," Harris said.

Harris has not far to look for inspiration. Born in Oakland, Calif., at the height of the civil rights movement, Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican Stanford economics professor and an Indian American breast cancer specialist, identified with the freedom struggle from an early age.

Being in the midst of civil discontent is what drew Harris into the world of law enforcement, she said.

Perhaps the early exposure to social justice is why Harris takes such a hard line when it comes to protecting the rights of children.

In 2004, Harris and her office sponsored a law that adds extra state prison time for anyone who commits a sex crime against a child.

The law recognized that prostituted teens and children are especially vulnerable to molestation, said Harris. "Now [California] makes it clear that our children are not for sale, Harris said.

One of her crowning achievements as district attorney is AB 22, a 2005 piece of legislation Harris co-sponsored. The bill has since been signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Called the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the law established human trafficking as a felony in the state of California.

Another achievement she is proud of is the rise in the rate of violent crime convictions to the highest it has been in 14 years, Harris said.

The San Francisco's district attorney's office has more than doubled its trial conviction rate for firearms felonies to 90 percent. Under Harris' jurisdiction the office has sent 50 percent more violent offenders to state prison, putting 220 gang members behind bars.

Buzz about a possible future presidential bid has begun to circulate around the Internet. For the time being, though, Harris says she is only considering being California's next attorney general.

Harris has an undergraduate degree from Howard University and is a 1999 graduate of the University of California's Hastings College of Law.

After graduating from U.C. Hastings, Harris spent 13 years with the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases.

As a deputy district attorney she also prosecuted cases for homicide and robbery, according to her campaign Web site. She worked at that office from 1990 to 1998 before going on to serve in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.