Virginia’s primaries on Tuesday saw Ramin Fatehi clinch the Democratic nomination for Commonwealth Attorney in Norfolk, the site of a major showdown over reform in 2019. He is unchallenged in November.
Larry Krasner ended an era of tough-on-crime policies in the DA’s office and sparked a nationwide movement. Now voters will decide whether to continue on this path.
Time is running out for the state Senate to advance a bill repealing the death penalty. Two influential Democratic senators also work as prosecutors, and the state’s DA association is fighting the reform.
New Orleans DA Jason Williams is making changes to remedy excessive sentencing, obstacles to parole, and convictions made by nonunanimous juries.
Eliza Orlins, who is running in the June 22 primary, lays out how she would overhaul the “prosecutorial-industrial complex.”
Dan Quart makes the case for addressing the “systemic breakdown” in New York’s prisons and jails with shorter sentences, ending cash bail, and other reforms.
Two more anti-death penalty DAs were elected last week, and the new Los Angeles DA confirmed he would review past sentences.
These are the key local elections where criminal justice reform is on the line next month, around the country.
In Maricopa County, years of harsh charging and sentencing policies have sent state incarceration rates soaring. Now that legacy is in question in November’s prosecutor election.
In Hamilton County, Joe Deters has sent more people to death row than any other prosecutor in Ohio. His challenger, Fanon Rucker, promises to stop that practice.
In a Q&A, Ben Pogue, who is running to be the chief prosecutor of South Carolina’s Ninth Circuit, discusses how he would confront racial injustice.
This DeKalb County attorney says that fighting mass incarceration will make people safer than President Trump’s “law and order” messaging.
In South Florida, the crowded Aug. 18 Democratic primary features one candidate who says he would not prosecute sex work and marijuana possession cases.
Nearly all of its 71 DA elections feature a candidate running unopposed. Once again, voters won’t have a say over the shape of prosecution and criminal justice.
State Attorney Aramis Ayala has faced reprisal for bold criminal justice reforms. The Aug. 18 election will determine whether her successor builds on her legacy or backtracks.
“Maybe we do teach the liberal bastions how things can be done by these country bumpkins over here,” said one winning candidate.
In this Arizona county with over one million residents, two career prosecutors are facing off against a former public defender in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary, which will decide the election.
A Maryland prosecutor stops seeking cash bail, Kentucky and Virginia prosecutors limit pot cases, and a Hawaii prosecutor reduces charges for driving offenses.
Recently, prosecutors have begun to use their discretion to stop enforcing laws they consider unjust.
If Border Patrol agents should refuse to tear gas children at the border, should prosecutors, police, and judges not refuse some of their duties too?
A year after being charged with misconduct, a prosecutor seeks re-election
Racial disparities and police shootings under the spotlight in Hennepin County election
San Antonio DA candidate pledges to put ‘real teeth’ into cite-and-release program
Portland district attorney candidates at odds on even basic reform steps.
Can a candidate for prosecutor make Payne and Logan counties “a mecca for criminal justice reform?”
General election preview: Defeated in primary, Berkshire DA launches write-in bid Berkshire County District Attorney Paul Caccaviello lost the Sept. 4 Democratic primary against Andrea Harrington, a defense attorney. But he has since announced a write-in campaign to keep his position in November. He told The Intercept that a district attorney should not be a “product manufactured by a […]
Candidates disagree on the county’s cooperation with ICE and on the treatment of young defendants.
In Tulsa’s DA race, challenger wants to shift criminal justice conversation Daniel Nichanian Jenny Proehl-Day, the Democratic nominee for Tulsa County district attorney, begins answering an ACLU questionnaire by noting that she is a former prosecutor: “I contributed to the issue of mass incarceration and now I am trying to be a part of the solution,” she […]
Plymouth County DA faces former employee who assails his ethics and policies Daniel Nichanian Massachusetts’s Sept. 4 elections resolved three hotly disputed Democratic primaries for district attorney—and they also added a Democratic candidate where there was none: John Bradley received enough write-in votes in Plymouth County (south of Boston) to make it onto the ballot as the Democratic […]
Many reform advocates believe that declining to prosecute cases is an effective way for prosecutors to shrink the system and break cycles of incarceration that disproportionately ensnare people of color.
Democrats select Rachael Rollins, who faces independent Mike Maloney in November Daniel Nichanian Boston voters selected Rachael Rollins as the Democratic nominee for district attorney of Suffolk County. In so doing, they shifted away from the record of outgoing DA Dan Conley, a Democrat who has resisted criminal justice reform. Rollins defeated Gregory Henning (the candidate endorsed […]
Middlesex County debates guidelines and data necessary to achieve reform Daniel Nichanian The district attorney of Middlesex County—the state’s most populous county, home to Lowell and Cambridge—is campaigning for re-election as a progressive who has already been reforming the county’s criminal justice system. Her opponent in the Sept. 4 Democratic primary rejects that characterization, questioning the […]
Punitive practices are at issue in the race to be prosecutor of Bennington County. Daniel Nichanian “Bennington Locks Up More People Than Any Other Vermont County,” Seven Days reported in 2016. Led by State’s Attorney Erica Marthage since 2006, county prosecutors have consistently “thrown the book” at defendants, this investigation documents. Marthage’s office charged a man with murder […]
Daniel Nichanian Eyes were glued on St. Louis County on Aug. 7, but another Missouri prosecutor was also ousted that same night. Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Richardson was seeking a fourth term, but he lost in the Republican primary to Assistant State Attorney General Locke Thompson. Cole County includes the state capital Jefferson City, […]
Reprimanded by state Supreme Court, prosecutor heads toward re-election Daniel Nichanian Platte County’s longtime prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd was disciplined this year, just months before he is to face voters in this county north of Kansas City. In 2015, Zahnd oversaw the prosecution of a man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child. At […]
Daniel Nichanian St. Louis County’s longtime prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch is seeking an eighth four-year term, four years after the 2014 Ferguson protests. That year, he drew heavy criticism for the way he handled his investigation into Michael Brown’s shooting and for his failure to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Brown. His actions fit a […]
Questionnaires “should not have been perceived as controversial or adversarial,” says the executive director of the state ACLU. Daniel Nichanian The ACLU of Vermont has published responses to a policy questionnaire it sent to all candidates running for Vermont’s 14 state’s attorney positions, including the 14 incumbents who are all seeking re-election this year. To meet the […]
An analysis of California, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Utah in the 2018 midterms
Stephen Zappala draws first challenger since 1999.
Steve Kunzweiler faces primary challenge, with the prosecution of a police officer in background