{"id":1918,"date":"2023-05-26T16:31:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T20:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/?page_id=1918"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:09:19","slug":"preface-new-directions-in-prosecutorial-reform","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/in-print\/volume-60-number-4-fall-2023\/preface-new-directions-in-prosecutorial-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Preface: New Directions in Prosecutorial Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span id=\"page589R_mcid5\" class=\"markedContent\"><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">This<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Preface,<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">which<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">introduces<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">the<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">American<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Criminal<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Law<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Review\u2019s <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Symposium Issue on Reform-Minded Prosecution, begins by describing the power <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">that prosecutors hold in the criminal legal system, which has historically gone <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">unchecked and unquestioned. As mass incarceration, police violence, and<\/span><\/span><span id=\"page589R_mcid6\" class=\"markedContent\"> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">wrong<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">ful<\/span><\/span><span id=\"page589R_mcid21\" class=\"markedContent\"> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">convictions began to permeate the public consciousness, many communities <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">focused their attention on the critical role of their local elected prosecutor and <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">elected leaders who promised to do the job differently. Reform-minded<\/span><\/span><span id=\"page589R_mcid10\" class=\"markedContent\"> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">prosecu<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">tors<\/span><\/span><span id=\"page589R_mcid22\" class=\"markedContent\"> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">have enjoyed remarkable electoral successes over the past decade such that <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">close to twenty percent of the U.S. population now resides in a jurisdiction with a <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">reform-minded District Attorney (<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">\u201c<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">DA<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">\u201d<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">). The Preface goes on to discuss some of <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">the groundbreaking accomplishments of these newly elected DAs, including <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">establishing conviction integrity and sentence review units; ending prosecution <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">of certain low-level offenses; holding law enforcement accountable; changing <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">the treatment of young people in the criminal legal system; and more. Despite <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">these promising initiatives, the Preface concludes with a discussion of the strong <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">pushback, criticism, and opposition DAs have experienced. The DAs\u2019 use of their <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">discretion has been a focal point of many attacks and has even led to attempts <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">at<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">supersession<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">from<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">state-level<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">officials<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">who<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">oppose<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">the<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">reform<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">efforts. <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Nevertheless, reform-minded prosecutors continue to advocate for the needs of <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">their communities and to inspire those who believe in the possibility of a fair and <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">just criminal legal system.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/60-4_PREFACE-NEW-DIRECTIONS-IN-PROSECUTORIAL-REFORM.pdf\">Read More.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Preface, which introduces the American Criminal Law Review\u2019s Symposium Issue on Reform-Minded Prosecution, begins by describing the power that prosecutors hold in the criminal legal system, which has historically [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9515,"featured_media":0,"parent":1913,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"abstract.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-1918","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1920,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1918\/revisions\/1920"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}