Despite deepening political polarization in USA, the 2020 elections confirmed gains recorded by reform-minded prosecutors. Running on platforms to end mass incarceration and curb police misconduct, progressive candidates defeated the more conventionally “traditional” law-and-order prosecutors across the country. Elected prosecutors, called state/ district attorneys, represent the county’s people in criminal cases. Their offices collaborate with law enforcement authorities to investigate cases, determine crimes to be prioritized and decide punishments. After decades of prosecutors winning elections based on high conviction rates or long sentences, are winning by concentrating on local races and funding progressive challengers.
A Movement gains steam
Despite criticism of her previous term, including the odd decision to drop all charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett for falsifying a hate crime, State Attorney Kim Foxx won re-election on Nov. 3 by 14 points. In Orlando, Monique Worrell, criminal justice reformer, won over a law-and-order independent conservative for the state attorney’s seat. In Detroit, Karen McDonald became the Oakland County prosecutor after she promised sensible criminal justice reform utilizing diversion programs and treatment courts, addressing racial disparity, and ensuring a fair system for everybody. In Colorado, Democratic prosecutors managed to flip 2 large Colorado districts held for decades by Republicans. People are starting to realize, that they need to know their DA, and seek alternatives to incarceration for offenders.
Police accountability
Voters worried about how prosecutors’ offices handled police violence. George Gascón, an ex-police officer, won over Jackie Lacey in Los Angeles as the latter was criticized by BLM activists, who even protested before her office every Wednesday for three years! During her eight years in office, Lacey would criminally prosecute only 1 from the 600 police-involved shootings she ruled over and Lacey, who is a Black woman, sent 22 people of color to death row. Gascón promised to hold police accountable for officer-involved shootings and pledged to reopen high-profile cases, where people got shot for not heeding an officer’s directions.
Mass incarceration and cash bail
Progressive prosecutors ensure major impact by diverting attention away from the criminal justice system. Many are motivated by what they perceive as the criminalization of poverty, a phenomenon wherein the poor compile criminal records for minor offenses as unable to afford posting bail or hire effective legal counsel. The district attorney for San Luis Valley, Colorado, Alonzo Payne was outraged that poor people remained in jail, unable to post bond. He decided to bring in human compassion to the DA’s office by reforming the cash bail system. Reducing mass incarceration is the common goal of all newly elected prosecutors in 2020, such as Jose Garza, an attorney from Austin, Texas, specializing in immigrant rights.
Looking ahead
Progressive policies proliferate in America’s largest metros, but reformers did not enjoy success in all centres as Zack Thomas in Kansas’s Johnson County, and Julie Gunnigle from Maricopa County in Arizona, lost as also in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Charleston, South Carolina. But progressive prosecutors are steadily winning races and remaining in power by more equitable use of the criminal justice system. Worrell ran the Conviction Integrity Unit in the DA’s office, Orlando, investigating claims of innocence from convicted defendants. Her reform message appealed to voters more than the old-fashioned and strict message given by of her opponent, Jose Torroella. Worrell won the race with nearly 66% of the votes. Criminal justice reform only means we’re going to be smart on crime, rather than tough on crime.