(Woodland, CA) – June 26, 2019 For the second year in a row, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office and the UC Davis Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) co-hosted a two day program: “DA for a Day.” EAOP is an organization based at UC Davis that provides resources and support to minority and underrepresented school communities to attain higher education. Almost all of these students will be the first in their families to head off to college. The program was held on June 19th & 20th.
On the first day of the program, the highly interested and motivated EAOP students gathered together ready to learn about life as a district attorney. Deputy District Attorney Diane Ortiz started off the day with a presentation of an opening statement from a criminal case. She showed students crime scene photographs and discussed the police investigation so participants could understand the detailed-nature of the job. Students then had the opportunity to hear from a panel of people who have been victims of crime.
Later, during the lunch hour, deputy district attorneys sat with the students and talked about their work as attorneys and provided sound advice for the youth. For many students, this was their first opportunity to network and they found that lawyers were not as “serious as I thought they were!” shared one student. The final portion of the day was a favorite for the students, as they were able to hear from Crime Scene Investigator Stephanie Gill. Students were able to learn more about the importance of collecting evidence at a crime scene and its great benefit to solving crimes.
On the second day of the program the students “shadowed” the deputy district attorneys on a trip to the courthouse where the students sat through an actual preliminary hearing and gained invaluable exposure to court proceedings. After court ended, Judge David Rosenberg took a moment to converse with the group of students answering questions and sharing about his experience as a judge. The students even had a special opportunity to view his chambers.
Students finished the program having seen first-hand what it’s like to spend a day as a deputy district attorney. This event was a success for the students, the District Attorney’s Office and UC Davis’ EAOP. It also represented a step towards the greater effort to diversify District Attorney Offices across the State. The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office is a part of the “Prosecutor Diversity” initiative, a statewide effort to inspire youth to become prosecutors so that DA’s offices across California reflect the diversity of the community they serve. According to District Attorney Jeff Reisig, “The Yolo DA’s Office is committed to providing opportunities for our youth to interact with our prosecutors and staff, and to experience what it is like to serve justice and help people.” Devoting a carefully planned two day program for Yolo County’s youth to learn about the District Attorney’s Office may spark the interest of these students to become prosecutors. One student shared, “I am so thankful for you all because I now know what I want to do… I will forever remember this experience.” For the second year in a row this event proved successful and clearly impacted the students desire to not only pursue higher education, but a possible career in the legal field.
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