Public Press, October 25, 2011 by Rina Palta
http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2011-10/qa-candidates-for-san-francisco-district-attorney-0

The War on Drugs has been a complete failure…. Locking people up because of an underlying mental health problem or underlying substance problem does not solve the problem whatsoever and is an extremely inefficient way to handle those problems.

The Nation, October 11, 2011 by Sasha Abramsky
http://www.thenation.com/article/163894/questions-san-francisco-da-candidate-david-onek

In California, we’ve embarked on the biggest prison-building binge in history, and we’re paying the price for it. We have what can only be described as an absolute fiscal crisis. The number-one driver of that crisis is the cost of prisons.

The New York Times, September 17, 2011 by Trey Bundy
http://nyti.ms/re4xPU

“Do you know what happens when you’re locked up?” he said. “You sleep all day and watch daytime TV. You’re watching Jerry Springer, and someone feeds you three hot meals a day. Admitting what you did, confronting your actions, hearing from a victim about the impact that things have had on them, that’s tough.”

The Bay Area Reporter, August 4, 2011 by Seth Hemmelgarn
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=5908

Onek spoke extensively about his background, which includes examining alternatives to incarceration, and counseling “delinquent kids” at Walden House, a substance abuse treatment center. He said it’s also important to “keep the kids of today from becoming the adult criminals of tomorrow.”

-San Francisco Examiner, May 19, 2011 by Ari Burack
http://bit.ly/kBFmDw

“The death penalty does not work — I will not seek the death penalty in any circumstances,” Onek said.

-San Francisco Bay Guardian, May 24, 2011 by Sarah Phelan
http://www.bestofthebay.com/2011/05/24/fatal-stance

Onek says his stance is informed by his belief that the death penalty solves nothing. “It doesn’t make us safer; it’s not fair and equitable; and it wastes enormous resources,” he said. “We are much better off spending our precious resources on things that actually make us safer, like more cops on the streets, more programs in our communities, and better services for victims.”

SF Weekly, April 6, 2011 by Peter Jamison
http://bit.ly/exeKCH

Does Hersh’s support signal that Onek might just follow through on his vows to let some more sunshine in at 850 Bryant? “I’ll let you be the judge of that,” he says. “All I can say is that I have tremendous respect for Sy Hersh, as a person and as a journalist.”

Daily Journal, March 30, 2011 by Brandon Ortiz
http://www.dailyjournal.com/ (registration required; go to H:\Law School in the News\In the News 2011\News Clips for article)

He said it’s the district attorney’s job to set a vision for the office, and he said his time in academia, on the city’s police commission from 2008 to 2010 and as a criminal justice adviser to Newsom from 2004 to 2006 qualifies him for that. “The job isn’t to be the chief trial attorney of San Francisco,” Onek said. “If that were the case, I wouldn’t be running.”

-Beyond Chron, March 14, 2011 by Paul Hogarth
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=8982

Onek spoke about his background at Walden House and Legal Services for Children, his work on the SF Police Commission and as Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. “For tough issues, let’s bring everyone around the table to get programmatic, common-sense reforms,” said Onek, as he described his work to help people out of prison get jobs.

-SF Weekly, The Snitch, March 14, 2011 by Matt Smith
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/03/george_gascon_david_onek.php

Onek added he would reverse a long-standing District Attorney’s office policy of disregarding the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance, which requires local officials to respond forthrightly to public records requests. “The default is always to be as transparent as you possibly can be, because that’s how you build trust with the community, and trust with the community is what makes us safer,” said Onek.

Miller-McCune, March 3, 2011 by Paul Tullis
http://www.miller-mccune.com/legal-affairs/david-onek-law-enforcement-facilitator-27808/

“There’s a lot more agreement than disagreement on criminal justice issues. You would never know it because the rhetoric on both sides is very extreme and very ideological.”

The Washington Post, October 26, 2010 by David Onek
http://wapo.st/d3AQvC

As we debate how to restore fiscal sanity, we need to understand how the skyrocketing cost of our state’s criminal justice system is contributing to the downward spiral—and what we can do to reverse the fiscally unsustainable trend.

SF Weekly blog, The Snitch, June 16, 2010 by Peter Jamison
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/06/david_onek_district_attorney.php

“DA Harris is a friend and I would never run against her, but her victory in November will open up the office as early as the end of this year,” Onek said in a statement sent out via e-mail today. “This means the time to get organized is right now.”

The New York Times, April 2, 2010 by Richard C. Paddock
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/us/02sfbriefs.html

“A number of these technologies can be additional useful tools for law enforcement, but none of them is a panacea,” said David Onek, a senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice and a member of the San Francisco Police Commission. “We need to look at how effective each is and balance that against legitimate civil liberties concerns.”

San Francisco Examiner, March 18, 2010 by Seth Chavez
http://bit.ly/aLC1m6

“Criminal justice issues are complex, but all we usually hear are brief sound bites and simplistic slogans,” Onek says. “The podcast gets behind the sound bites to have detailed, nuanced conversations about criminal justice policy.”

San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 2009 by John Coté
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/21/MN0O16EVCR.DTL&type=printable

“There is a problem,” Commissioner David Onek said. “And so the question is what we should do about it.”

San Francisco Bay Guardian, February 11, 2009 by Sarah Phelan
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?page=6&entry_id=8031&catid=&volume_id=398&issue_id=418&volume_num=43&issue_num=20

“Fellow commissioner David Onek described her as “a model public servant” and residents praised her outreach to the local Asian community.”

San Francisco Chronicle, January 29, 2009 by C.W.Nevius
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/29/BA8615IU2U.DTL&type=printable

“This is not a case where we say, OK, is the new chief going to buy into this or not?” said David Onek, a new appointee to the Police Commission. “We want someone who has experience in implementing these kinds of changes…. I think we need to look at a five-year term for the chief. If he serves at the will of the mayor, he will figure he will be removed as soon as the major leaves.”

San Francisco Chronicle, January 20, 2009 by C.W. Nevius
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/20/BA1L15D6AC.DTL&type=printable

David Onek, newly appointed to the Police Commission, called it “a delicate balancing act.” “The Police Department needs to pitch in and tighten its belt just like every other city agency,” said Onek, the founding executive director of the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. “But this may be a case where an exception is justified, as long as the overtime is closely monitored.”

San Francisco Chronicle, January 16, 2009 by Tyche Hendricks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/16/BAP5159KH0.DTL&type=printable

“The vast majority of victims and perpetrators have past involvement in the criminal justice system,” said David Onek, director of the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice … who recently completed a study on San Francisco homicides. “Violence in San Francisco is highly concentrated in a small number of places and a small number of people.”

San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 24, 2008 by Erin Allday
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/23/BATH14U52B.DTL

“The mayor let her do it in her own words, on her own time, and that says a lot for the amount of respect he has for her, ” said David Onek, a member of the San Francisco Police Commission. “So far I feel like this has been handled in a way that’s given her the respect she deserves.”

San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 10, 2008 by Demian Bulwa

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/09/BABR13VJGP.DTL&tsp=1

“Today’s shooter is tomorrow’s victim,” said Onek, the study group’s executive director and a member of the San Francisco Police Commission. “A small number of individuals in a small number of places are responsible for a disproportionate share of the violence. If you can make a difference with that group, you can make a significant impact on violence in San Francisco.”