Current Events > Philadelphia's new top prosecutor sounds like a badass, and I hate prosecutors

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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/phillys-new-top-prosecutor-is-rolling-out-wild-unprecedented-criminal-justice-reforms.html


The most significant and groundbreaking reform is how he has instructed assistant district attorneys to wield their most powerful tool: plea offers. Over 90 percent of criminal cases nationwide are decided in plea bargains, a system which has been broken beyond repair by mandatory minimum sentences and standardized prosecutorial excess. In an about-face from how these transactions typically work, Krasners 300 lawyers are to start many plea offers at the low end of sentencing guidelines. For most nonviolent and nonsexual crimes, or economic crimes below a $50,000 threshold, Krasners lawyers are now to offer defendants sentences below the bottom end of the states guidelines. So, for example, if a person with no prior convictions is accused of breaking into a store at night and emptying the cash register, he would normally face up to 14 months in jail. Under Krasners paradigm, hell be offered probation. If prosecutors want to use their discretion to deviate from these guidelines, say if a person has a particularly troubling rap sheet, Krasner must personally sign off.

Its the mirror of a lot of offices saying, If you dont ask for the max youve got to get my permission, says David Rudovsky, a prominent Philadelphia civil rights attorney. For longtime career prosecutors, this will take some getting used to. You want to be sure your assistants are actually doing it, Rudovsky says.

Krasners lawyers are also now to decline charges for marijuana possession, no matter the weight, effectively decriminalizing possession of the drug in the city for all nonfederal cases. Sex workers will not be charged with prostitution unless they have more than two priors, in which case theyll be diverted to a specialized court. Retail theft under $500 is no longer a misdemeanor in the eyes of Philly prosecutors, but a summary offensethe lowest possible criminal charge. And when ADAs give probation charges they are to opt for the lower end of the possible spectrum. Criminological studies show that most violations of probation occur within the first 12 months, the memo reads, Assuming that a defendant is violation free for 12 months, any remaining probation is simply excess baggage requiring unnecessary expenditure of funds for supervision. When a person does break the rules of probation, minor infractions such as missing a PO meeting are not to be punished with jail time or probation revocation, and more serious infractions are to be disciplined with no more than two years in jail.

In a move that may have less impact on the lives of defendants, but is very on-brand for Kranser, prosecutors must now calculate the amount of money a sentence would cost before recommending it to a judge, and argue why the cost is justified. He estimates that it costs $115 a day, or $42,000 a year, to incarcerate one person. So, if a prosecutor seeks a three-year sentence, she must state, on the record, that it would cost taxpayers $126,000 and explain why she thinks this cost is justified. Krasner reminds his attorneys that the cost of one year of unnecessary incarceration is in the range of the cost of one years salary for a beginning teacher, police officer, fire fighter, social worker, Assistant District Attorney, or addiction counselor.

This latest wave of reforms comes on the tail of others. Since January he has told his attorneys not to seek cash bail for 25 charges; dropped 51 marijuana charges, en masse; joined the mayor in pushing for Philadelphia to become the first U.S. city to open a safe injection site, a clinic where people can inject drugs under nurse supervision and receive addiction treatment if they choose; and hes suing 10 pharmaceutical companies, alleging their marketing methods have fueled the opioid crisis.

who is this guy? I wanna marry him
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I wouldn't jump on his dick until you see how it plays out.
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its how most of the civilized world handles crime, I think we'll be okay bud
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Krasner owns
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Balrog0 posted...

I hate prosecutors

Those foul prosecutors. How many lunchboxes of sin did they pack to take them down this dark path?

But does he know why kids love cinnamom toast crunch?
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Balrog0 posted...

its how most of the civilized world handles crime, I think we'll be okay bud

Most of the civilized world doesn't operate right smack in the middle of a system that operates completely opposite of what you're trying to do, bud.

It's a good plan, but it's not going to be a simple transition. You'd be extremely naive to think otherwise.
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Antifar posted...

Krasner owns

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The only thing I don't agree about is theft. That's just going to encourage more stealing.
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Patchwork posted...

Most of the civilized world doesn't operate right smack in the middle of a system that operates completely opposite of what you're trying to do, bud.

ok, so what specific concerns do you have?

Patchwork posted...

It's a good plan, but it's not going to be a simple transition. You'd be extremely naive to think otherwise.

I never said it would be simple. I'm saying that I'm not worried about it.

though I do think almost all of these particular changes will be quite simple to implement, so feel free to disabuse me of that notion if you'd like

the vast majority of it is simply using prosecutorial discretion in a way that doesn't prioritize putting people in jail. It really isn't rocket science. Which isn't to say there aren't actually tough changes we still need to make over and above these ones.
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