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On May 16th, 2017 the people of Philadelphia sent a message that they wanted to see real change in the Philadelphia criminal justice system. With 40 percent of the democratic vote in the primary election and 75 percent of the popular vote in the general election, Larry Krasner is a prime example of the new wave of progressive District Attorneys that are sweeping across the nation to be the change they want to see.1 Though Larry Krasner is criticized for his lack of prosecutorial experience and relationship with the police union, the changes he wants to implement are the first steps towards real criminal justice reform.

One of the most important changes that Larry Krasner want to implement is an end to cash-bail. The idea of cash-bail originally was intended to ensure that those who were charged with breaking the law returned to court to face the consequences of their actions. Unfortunately, over time the cash bail system transformed from a simple means of ensuring the court’s time was respected to a form of wealth-based incarceration. When someone is arrested, regardless if they are innocent or guilty, they are presented with three options. The person can either: sit in jail and wait to see a judge, pay a nonrefundable fee to a for-profit bail bonds company, or plead guilty and give up their right to defend themselves in court.2 Because of this harsh reality, the United States has more people detained before trial (536,000) than most countries have in their prisons and jails combined.3 While waiting behind bars for their day in court inmates are often subjected to inadequate medical care, dangerous conditions, and potentially losing their jobs and housing. This often causes people to take plea bargains for crimes they may have not even committed. In Philadelphia from 2008 to 2013, almost 40 percent of those with bail set at $500 or less stayed in jail for at least three days.4 Most people from lower income backgrounds live check to check and don’t have savings to afford bail, further criminalizing the poor.

In addition to reforming cash-bail practices, Krasner is also looking at how the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office utilizes prosecutorial discretion. Prior to Krasner’s term, the office accepted 97 percent of the cases brought to them by the police indicating that police were dictating what offenses were punishable and not the prosecutors who had to argue the cases.5When an officer makes an arrest it is based upon whether the police officer has probable cause to believe that a law has been broken. After an arrest is made, prosecutors must decide if they can file formal charges, which involves the prosecutor believing that they can prove the suspect is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Often times the information presented to the prosecutor does not provide a clear picture of what actually happened. Typically arrest reports are one-sided and may only include witness statements that support the police theory.6 Krasner wants to be more considerate in deciding who truly deserves to be charged. Other ways that Krasner wants to use prosecutorial discretion to reform include: offering plea deals to nonviolent offenders below the bottom range of Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines, no longer prosecuting marijuana possession in cases in which there was no intent to sell, not charging sex workers with a crime before a third prostitution conviction, and handling any retail theft with a value of less than $500 with a citation which is the lowest possible offense under Pennsylvania law.5

Krasner has also been commended for his approach towards undocumented immigrants. Though courthouse arrests happened under President Barack Obama, lawyers and advocates across the country have agreed that the practice has increased under the Trump administration. On December 12th, 2018, 70 former judges from 23 states sent a letter to the acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director, Ronald Vitiello, stating how courthouse arrests were deteriorating the criminal justice process on both the state and federal levels.7An example of this was seen in a North Carolina courthouse where a mother and son were arrested after testifying against the mother’s former boyfriend for acts of domestic violence. Their alleged abuser countered the charges filed against him by filing charges against her for simple assault making her and her son eligible for apprehension by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for deportation. This is a clear example of abuse of the criminal process that is too often used against immigrants. Abuse of the criminal process refers to using the criminal justice system to affect or hurt someone with no merit at all. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say that this practice is only used because many jurisdictions no longer allow the agency to take custody of undocumented immigrants inside of jails, making courthouses the next safest option.8  To counteract this growing trend, Krasner announced the creation of a position in his office whose sole job would be to protect undocumented immigrants from any collateral consequences of interacting with the legal system which should allow more immigrants to feel more comfortable reporting crimes.5

Though much of Philadelphia is excited for the reforms that Krasner is bringing to the District Attorney’s office, not everyone in the city are fans of the new head attorney. Krasner has often been criticized for not supporting the police department. While in private practice, Krasner sued the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times1 for abuses of power and corruption.One of the major reasons he is criticized by police is for limiting their overtime pay. In 2016, some officers earned as much as $100,000 in overtime pay stemming from the overtime they receive for appearing in court. If the Office of the District Attorney decides to bring charges after an arrest is made the cop will most likely be called to testify in court. When the cop testifies they must come in off-shift and are guaranteed at least two hours of overtime pay. The financial incentive of testifying in courts help to attribute to high arrest rates for minimal offenses. Noting this issue, Krasner pledges to end stop-and-frisk practices by refusing to bring to trial any case that stems from illegal frisks and searches. 9

Other platform initiatives of Krasner’s platform have also caused him to be at odds with law enforcement. One of the biggest initiatives on Krasner’s platform included no longer pursuing the death penalty. This was recently brought to light when the 2015 case of a murdered officer was completed and sentencing options had to be presented to the judge. The officer was killed attempting to stop a robbery in a North Philadelphia Gamestop, while picking up his children’s Christmas gifts. Krasner decided to sentence his murderers to life without parole which angered some members of the officer’s family members as well as members of the police union. Krasner claimed that his decision was based on many factors including Governor Wolf’s moratorium on executions as well as not wanting to put the children through the trauma associated with the appellate process.10

Reforming institutions that have marginalized communities for centuries is not an easy task. While some say it is impossible, Larry Krasner is proving that it can happen if you elect the right people to the right positions. The discretion of a prosecutor is one of few things that can be utilized to spark change without having to go through the slow-moving process of changing laws. Systems are in place because someone is benefiting from them, and if you want to change the system than someone is going to be upset. Larry Krasner is making real changes and that means that he might make enemies along the way, but that does not take away from the fact that the changes he is making are the first steps towards a just criminal justice system.

 

Works Cited

  1. Alan Feuer, “He Sued Police 75 Times. Democrats Want Him as Philadelphia’s Top Prosecutor,” New York Times, June 17, 2017.
  2. “Bail Reform.” American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, aclu.org/issues/smart-justice/bail-reform (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
  3. Peter Wagner, “Mass Incarceration,” Prison Policy Initiative, March 14, 2018.
  4. Stephanie Wykstra, “Bail reform, which could save millions of unconvicted people from jail, explained,” Vox, October 17, 2018.
  5. Ben Austen, “In Philadelphia, a Progressive D.A. Tests the Power — and Learns the Limits — of His Office,” New York Times, October 30, 2018.
  6. Paul Bergman, “How the Prosecutor Decides Which Cases to Charge,” NOLO Legal Encyclopedia.
  7. Alanna Durkin Richer, “Ex-judges to ICE: End immigration arrests at courthouses,” Associated Press, December 12, 2018.
  8. Kaelyn Forde, “’Where can anyone seek justice?’: Experts warn ICE courthouse arrests may mean witnesses, victims won’t show up,” ABC News, July 27, 2018.
  9. Abraham Gutman, “The Two Big Reasons the Police Union Wants Larry Krasner to Lose,” Philadelphia Magazine, November 3, 2017.
  10. Mike Newall, “Larry Krasner didn’t have to let down a murdered police officer’s family,” com, June 25, 2018.