A Progressive Vision: Leading the District Attorney's Office

A Progressive Vision: Leading the District Attorney's Office

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Seismic events have shaken the very foundations of the criminal justice system. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery brought Americans out of their homes and into the streets demanding change. It was remarkable that the protesters were not only people of color; they included a huge cross-section of the public in this country and across the planet. From large urban centers to small towns, America witnessed unprecedented protests and calls for reform. This time, the demands for change did not track familiar paths but instead called for a radical rethinking of our entire criminal justice system. The public insisted that true justice reform meant addressing the impact of structural racism, the overreliance on law enforcement, and the differential experience of justice based on race and wealth. In other words, the public made clear that it expected nothing less than a genuine reimagining of the American system of justice, its policies, and its operations. Not so long ago, that expectation might have seemed little more than wishful thinking. Now it could be within reach. The public awakening and uprisings helped to accelerate true justice reform. But the movement gained traction with the help of an unexpected force: the COVID-19 pandemic. Too easily in the past, criminal justice actors had sidestepped calls for reform, insisting that they simply could not stop what they were doing to engage in a fundamental rethinking of practices and policies given the relentless press of business. But the pandemic forced the entire world to stop. So, the well-worn excuses lost their persuasive power. Instead, a new sense of urgency has taken hold: all who care about justice owe it to ourselves, those protesters, and future generations to take this time to get it right. America simply cannot return to justice as usual. While most of the 2020 protests centered on police interactions with communities of color, the larger criminal justice system also came under scrutiny and indictment. Specifically, the failure of prosecutors to oversee the police surfaced as a basic flaw in the justice system. Indeed, presidential candidates who refused to prosecute police for misconduct had their political aspirations dashed as a consequence of those choices. The catastrophic failure of the criminal justice system to discipline police officers and to hold them accountable has resulted in a deep-seated lack of confidence in the system’s integrity. Too many citizens across the country perceive the criminal justice system as fundamentally unsound because it has consistently failed to protect communities from the lawless behavior of actors whose job it is to serve and protect us. The 2020 protesters angrily turned to prosecutors and demanded that they take responsibility both for their past failures and for leading structural transformation of the justice experience going forward. Of course, the American criminal justice system did not reach this boiling point overnight. In a dangerously misdirected effort to ensure the safety of citizens and communities, this country embarked on a journey of mass incarceration that has proved unsustainable and, even worse, ineffective. In 1972, the United States incarcerated only two hundred thousand of its citizens. Today, that number has exploded to 2.2 million. Although the United States leads the world in its rate of imprisonment, that policy choice has not made us safer. As important, the mass incarceration model has disproportionately affected poor people and people of color, derailing countless individuals, families, and communities. Prosecutors played a critical role in building this system, but they now have the potential—and obligation—to reimagine it. They must dare to redirect the system because there can be no turning back. The concept and practice of “progressive prosecution”—the main theme throughout this book and its individual chapters—have come under attack by the political right. But competing with those critiques has been a growing number of calls from the left urging more radical change to the criminal legal system. Years of racial disparities, favoritism of wealthy defendants over poor defendants, and the continued proliferation of mass incarceration have led some to insist on abolishing the criminal legal system as we know it. Calls to “defund the police” have prompted more comprehensive conversations at the local and national levels about the role of policing and what it takes to keep communities safe. Similarly, calls to abolish the system are becoming a catalyst for broader discussions of the role of the criminal legal system, particularly in communities of color. While these conversations are both timely and necessary, they are, by definition, long-term projects that will not result in immediate changes. And while those conversations are beginning, it is incumbent on current prosecutors, researchers, and advocates to address the existing racial injustices that are affecting individuals and communities on a daily basis. Quite simply, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good or, in this case, the necessary. What is necessary is a prerequisite: embracing a progressive, race-alert vision. Some practitioners will undoubtedly balk at the concept of “vision” as, at worst, a meaningless trope or, at best, a term that belongs in the private sector rather than the justice sector. But that sort of limited thinking is precisely what has enabled the haphazard decision-making that led to mass incarceration and uneven applications of justice. Dismantling the system of mass incarceration will take more than individual prosecutors applying the brakes in particular cases. Redirecting the justice system will require a transformational vision that makes race a focal point in its operations and policies. This means using a race-alert lens in all prosecutorial decisions, including the basic choices of whether to engage the system at all and to what end. A progressive, race-alert vision will require that prosecutors assess where and how they spend their time. Progressive thinking around prosecution means being less beholden to the wealthy and organized and more accountable to those marginalized communities that they also serve but that often lack voice within our system. Right now, prosecutors tend to have strong relationships with monied interests within the community including businesses, property owners, and organized donors. These connections will remain important because no section of the community should be ignored. But prosecutors cannot continue to prioritize these relationships over other, less influential ones. Instead, prosecutors must seek out and forge bonds with marginalized communities that do not possess either the wealth or the political heft to wield influence in traditional ways. Progressive prosecutors must recognize that categories such as “victim,” “witness,” and “accused” are rarely fixed and are more often interchangeable. Given that fluidity, prosecutors will need to find ways to engage with all members of their communities—even those who have been accused of crimes, whether major or petty. To make this vision transformational, prosecutors will need to lead in new ways. By listening more and allowing communities to articulate their concerns, prosecutors might develop solutions collaboratively with those who have a better chance of keeping communities safe. People most affected by the justice system often have a clearer sense of what keeps their neighborhoods safe and what does not. Rather than developing a view and then seeking buy-in, prosecutors should look to co-create solutions with justice-affected communities. Listening is one key part of the process. Transparency is its partner. Chief district attorneys will need to think more carefully about how communications happen and what means of communication are used. In some instances, this will mean working with communication firms to fully utilize conventional media as well as social media and nontraditional outlets. This also means attending community events where the prosecutor is not the featured speaker but is simply one voice in the community. Perhaps most important, given the nature of the protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, prosecutors will need to review and revise their relationships with police departments and police unions. Because of law enforcement’s investigatory function, there needs to be a healthy working relationship between the department and the prosecutor’s office. But too often that association has become so close that it threatens the integrity of the exercise of discretion, particularly with regard to officer-involved violence. The familiarity of these relationships often leads to a prosecutor’s inability to judge the quality of the information provided by police agencies as well as a discomfort in charging law enforcement personnel when necessary. Prosecutors’ offices need to establish protocols and practices that maintain sufficient distance that enables them to assess and evaluate officer conduct and veracity. Finally, this new vision of the prosecutor’s office will have to reimagine everything from internal leadership to training. The information provided at orientation and during in-service training, as well as the criteria considered relevant for promotion, will all have to be included in this new vision of how the office operates. And the elected prosecutor will need to decide how she wants the office to be viewed in the community and then work to make that a reality. Of course, this leads inexorably to questions of leadership and engagement at the intersection of ideas, perspectives, and experiences. This chapter offers a framework for developing a progressive vision and then outlines ideas for leading the prosecutor’s office from a position at the intersection of perspectives, experiences, and stakeholders. In the twenty-first century, the prosecutor—more than any other actor in the criminal justice system—must be able to take into account a range of voices in making justice decisions, else she runs the risk of tacking too closely to one perspective and missing the wide effects of practices and policies. The progressive prosecutor must also commit to learning the interplay of race, gender, and class in the operations of the criminal legal system.

Source Publication

Progressive Prosecution: Race and Reform in Criminal Justice

Source Editors/Authors

Kim Taylor-Thompson, Anthony C. Thompson

Publication Date

2022

A Progressive Vision: Leading the District Attorney's Office

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