Assistant District Attorney Sarah Hawkins had an epiphany about working in criminal justice earlier than most in the field, thanks to a high school mentor. While Sarah was a mock trial member in school, her mentor was an ADA in Riverside County. Sarah reflects: "She had a picture hanging on her wall which was a woman and a child. I asked her if that was her family, and she said 'No, that was my first domestic violence case I prosecuted. The husband shot the mom in the stomach and she survived.'" Since that moment, Sarah knew what career path she'd choose. "I'm the first person in my family to go to college, so I had not had a professional role model like that, and I thought, "I have to have this job".

After starting off as a DA in Contra Costa County, Sarah relocated to the San Francisco office in 2010. She began in the misdemeanor unit and went on to navigate several other units: preliminary hearing, general felonies, and now gang violence. "Gangs, sex assault, and homicide are three of the units that I always wanted to work in," Sarah confides. Each of those units, she explains, has "unique issues, legal issues and community impact issues that come along with them. So the gang unit deals with a lot of issues beyond just the violence and crimes that are being committed but how those crimes really impact the greater communities where the gangs are based. So that's what makes it in my opinion such an interesting and important unit to be in."

Sarah sees the impact that gang violence has on the community with many of the trials that she works on. Her last trial dealt with two members of the city's Westmob gang: "They attempted to murder a victim who was not part of the gang - who had a big family. The two gang members shot up the front of his house. I think there is definitely an impact on the community." She adds, "You see it with the Latino gangs in The Mission with the Norteños and Sureños. Also what happens are a lot of innocent people who just live in the neighborhood getting caught in the crossfire that happens between gang members. And gang members also commit crimes against innocent people living in the neighborhood in order to assert their power and to intimidate people living in the community." As Sarah and others have discovered, communities can be impacted to the point where they are afraid to speak out. "That's exactly what the issue was in my last trial. The reason the two defendants tried to kill the victim was because they thought he was a snitch. And what that does is effectively silence a community so they're afraid to talk about gang violence or to talk about crimes that they witness. So to have a part in helping the community feel heard and knowing our office is going to take a stand and not tolerate that kind of behavior is huge and it's hugely rewarding."

One particular case that impacted Sarah is one regarding a blind man who got his iPod stolen. "A defendant robbed a blind man of his iPod. The victim was legally blind - not 100% blind - so he could give some description, but what he said was that the defendant smelled like corn chips. So the defendant was found within a few blocks with the stolen iPod - which by the way was loaded with verses from the Bible - next to an open bag of Fritos. What was rewarding about the case was that you have a particularly vulnerable victim. The defendant knew he was blind - he had the glasses on and he had the cane that he was walking with. So I think when defendants prey on particularly vulnerable victims and they're caught it makes our job even more rewarding." 

What keeps Sarah going is working with the community, her teammates, and the victims of her cases. "I'm very motivated by helping people in the community and by working as part of a team here in this office that's committed to justice and doing the right thing. What that means is going to be different in every case. But it is really the phone calls from the victims saying 'thank you' for navigating me through a hard time in my life. I had a case where a bicyclist hit a pedestrian and she died. And her husband and I still talk. It's one of these horrible phases in his life but being able to help him along through the legal process was amazing and that's the kind of stuff that keeps you going.  And again working with a really great office and a really great team in our unit." Sarah also believes that "to get involved in the neighborhoods, get involved in the communities, and to reach out at every level" is vital to her work as an Assistant District Attorney.