My mother was and will always remain my greatest hero.

To change criminal justice policy in any meaningful way means to propose changing a very longstanding system. It's not realistic to think you can do it overnight.

Everybody will make mistakes, and for some that mistake will rise to the level of being a crime.

I believe that a child going without an education is a crime.

I want to use my position of leadership to help move along at a faster pace what I believe and know the Obama administration wants to do around the urgency of climate change.

I've been a proud mentor to many women seeking public office, because I believe we need more women at all levels of government. Women have an equal stake in our future and should have an equal voice in our politics. These are challenging times, but I believe getting more women to run for office is a big part of the solution.

We need to incorporate that age-old concept of redemption into the work that we do in the criminal justice system in California.