Preface: new directions in prosecutorial reform

• Author: Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Justin Murray, and Maybell Romero
• Position: Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution/Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School/Associate Professor of Law at Tulane University Law School
• Pages: 1369-1380

PREFACE

PREFACE: NEW DIRECTIONS IN PROSECUTORIAL REFORM

Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Justin Murray, and Maybell Romero*

ABSTRACT

This Preface, which introduces the American Criminal Law Review’s

Symposium Issue on Reform-Minded Prosecution, begins by describing the power

that prosecutors hold in the criminal legal system, which has historically gone

unchecked and unquestioned. As mass incarceration, police violence, and wrong-

ful convictions began to permeate the public consciousness, many communities

focused their attention on the critical role of their local elected prosecutor and

elected leaders who promised to do the job differently. Reform-minded prosecu-

tors have enjoyed remarkable electoral successes over the past decade such that

close to twenty percent of the U.S. population now resides in a jurisdiction with a

reform-minded District Attorney (“DA”). The Preface goes on to discuss some of

the groundbreaking accomplishments of these newly elected DAs, including

establishing conviction integrity and sentence review units; ending prosecution

of certain low-level offenses; holding law enforcement accountable; changing

the treatment of young people in the criminal legal system; and more. Despite

these promising initiatives, the Preface concludes with a discussion of the strong

pushback, criticism, and opposition DAs have experienced. The DAs’ use of their

discretion has been a focal point of many attacks and has even led to attempts

at supersession from state-level officials who oppose the reform efforts.

Nevertheless, reform-minded prosecutors continue to advocate for the needs of

their communities and to inspire those who believe in the possibility of a fair and

just criminal legal system.

INTRODUCTION: AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION AT A CRITICAL MOMENT OF

CHANGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1370

I. THE GROWING MOVEMENT TO REFORM CRIMINAL PROSECUTION IN AMERICA 1373

II. CROSSCURRENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377

* Miriam Aroni Krinsky is the Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution. Justin Murray is an Associate

Professor of Law at New York Law School. Maybell Romero is an Associate Professor of Law at Tulane

University Law School. We would like to thank the American Criminal Law Review’s student editors, especially

Editor-in-Chief Victoria Sheber and Senior Symposium Editor Robert Cetrino, for making possible the important

conversations and Articles that came out of this Symposium. Thanks as well to Fair and Just Prosecution’s

Director of Research and Outreach, Monica Fuhrmann, for her invaluable assistance. © 2023, Miriam Aroni

Krinsky, Justin Murray, and Maybell Romero.

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