In 13 years as a public defender in San Jose, Sajid has fought for people’s constitutional rights and against systemic racism and mass incarceration. He has walked our neighborhood streets and come to know the lives and stories of people in our diverse community. He has sat in the county jails and juvenile hall, representing countless individuals who have suffered trauma. And Sajid has heard from survivors and witnessed real harm caused by criminal activity. 

In handling every type of case, Sajid has seen how the system operates. He knows how it fails and causes harm to everyone involved. He has advocated for people in more than 40 jury trials in adult court and 25 court trials in juvenile court. The people he has represented include a 14-year-old child prosecuted as an adult, a man exposed to years in prison for a low-level drug offense under California’s inhumane Three Strikes Law, and another man facing the death penalty. 

All of these experiences have demonstrated to Sajid the need for a true progressive approach to justice that holds people accountable while offering healing and wholeness for survivors and all involved. 

Sajid is an award winning advocate and attorney. In 2016 Sajid was presented with “The Heart of the Office Award” for his service to the community and the people he represents. In 2020, Sajid again was recognized for his achievements as a young attorney in the state of California, receiving the CACJ (California Attorneys for Criminal Justice) Skip Glenn Award for Excellence in Advocacy.

As an author and podcaster, Sajid is a leading voice on criminal justice reform and does not back down when speaking out for what is right. Sajid has appeared on Democracy Now, NPR and The Chasing Justice Podcast. Sajid’s written work has been published in the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, The Marshall Project, the National Association for Public Defense website, the Daily Journal, San Jose Mercury News, Davis Vanguard, and San Jose Inside.

Sajid volunteers with Silicon Valley De-Bug through their participatory defense movement. He’s worked with public defenders, defense attorneys and community organizations across the country training them on how to best serve and humanize the people public defenders represent.

Santa Clara County deserves a new, humane, effective approach to public safety and justice. Sajid Khan would be honored to serve as District Attorney.

Too many kids, mostly children of color, are processed through our school-to-prison pipeline. Many are from underserved communities and have endured traumatic childhoods that unfortunately increase their risk of harmful behavior. These factors are overlooked in charging and sentencing decisions. As District Attorney, I will stop dooming generations of young people to lives of incarceration.

I will not prosecute kids as adults. The science is clear: There are fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds in parts of the brain involved in behavior control. They engage in riskier behavior for perceived immediate reward without considering long-term consequences. Critically, they possess unique capacities for rehabilitation. My office will structure charges and interventions based on this reality. We will consider childhood trauma and life circumstances of the accused when assessing charges and outcomes in all cases.

Less than one third of sexual assaults are reported, and even fewer end in justice for survivors and accountability for perpetrators. And too often, when harms are reported,  prosecutors put survivors through additional layers of trauma without actually listening to what they want or meeting their needs. 

When elected DA, I will work to foster a trauma sensitive, safe community culture that encourages survivors to report the harms against them. 

I will fight to ensure that trauma-informed professionals hold space for those who have been harmed, ask them what they need, and respond with empathy, sensitivity and care.  Our office will assign trauma-informed prosecutors who will meet with survivors on a regular basis per their wishes, and provide them a voice in how cases are handled.

I will establish channels to connect survivors with holistic resources such as access to housing, peer support, health care, and financial support. I will fight to provide survivors the support they need to feel safe and to heal, regardless of whether they participate in a prosecution and regardless of the outcome of a case. 

I will seek evidence-based sentences and utilize restorative justice practices and interventions that honor and respect survivors, provide trauma-informed care, hold offenders accountable, and stop future harms while ensuring due process and dignity for all.