{"id":1929,"date":"2023-05-26T16:46:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T20:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/?page_id=1929"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:09:19","slug":"progressive-prosecutors-or-zealous-defenders-from-coast-to-coast","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/in-print\/volume-60-number-4-fall-2023\/progressive-prosecutors-or-zealous-defenders-from-coast-to-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressive Prosecutors or Zealous Defenders, From Coast-to-Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Article challenges the narrative that the progressive prosecutor movement <\/span>can meaningfully transform the criminal legal system and argues that the myopic <\/span>focus on prosecutors as the solution to all that ails this system further diminishes <\/span>the critical, and chronically under-resourced, role of the public defender.<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

In presenting this claim, we do not question the sincerity of many self-styled <\/span>progressive prosecutors\u2019 desires to<\/span> \u201c<\/span>make a difference<\/span>\u201d<\/span> in the criminal legal<\/span><\/span> sys<\/span>tem<\/span><\/span> or whether these prosecutors have in fact modified norms and practices<\/span><\/span> posi<\/span>tively<\/span><\/span> in some jurisdictions. But in our view, the record reveals mostly modest <\/span>changes and substantial, multidirectional resistance to anything more. And this <\/span>record should not be a surprise, as prosecutors are executive branch officers <\/span>with a job description primarily of charging and punishing crime in an<\/span><\/span> adversa<\/span>rial<\/span><\/span> system. The progressive prosecutor movement nevertheless has become <\/span>another way for prosecutor offices to expand their mission, deepen their<\/span><\/span> resour<\/span>ces,<\/span><\/span> and accrue power to do<\/span> \u201c<\/span>justice.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

We emphasize a different path to meaningful change: well-resourced, highly <\/span>functioning public defense systems. We do not claim that public defenders are a <\/span>panacea or a comparable solution to abolition. But we explore how a greater <\/span>commitment to public defense more meaningfully can change the lives of people <\/span>and communities impacted by our criminal legal system by empowering the<\/span><\/span> pro<\/span>fessionals<\/span><\/span> with the role and training, the professional incentives, and the<\/span><\/span> institu<\/span>tional<\/span><\/span> values to pursue material and sustainable change. In our view, truly <\/span>progressive prosecutors would cede more resources and power to the defense <\/span>rather than expand the mission and power of prosecutors.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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This Article challenges the narrative that the progressive prosecutor movement can meaningfully transform the criminal legal system and argues that the myopic focus on prosecutors as the solution to all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9515,"featured_media":0,"parent":1913,"menu_order":6,"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-1929","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\/1929","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=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1963,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929\/revisions\/1963"}],"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=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}