{"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 gone unchecked and unquestioned. As mass incarceration, police violence, and wrongful convictions began to permeate the public consciousness, many communities focused their attention on the [&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,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1918","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_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}]}}