Progressive Politics and Policy Setting: Examining Criminal Justice Reform Efforts by Black Prosecutors

Abstract

Increasing awareness of racial disparities in case processing and sentencing has led justice reform advocates to challenge locally elected officials, specifically chief prosecutors, to address disparate treatment through criminal justice reforms. Elected prosecutors within across several jurisdictions have attempted to address these concerns by adopting “smart-on-crime” policies. However, the extent to which chief prosecutors have adopted such policies has been unexplored empirically. Additionally, little is known about prosecutors’ support for these changes in smaller jurisdictions. The current study explores the political platforms and reform efforts of progressive-oriented prosecutors, highlighting the reform efforts of Black chief prosecutors. Findings suggest that reformed-minded Black prosecutors adopt policies aimed at addressing disparate treatment and positively influencing public perceptions and legitimacy of the office.

Do progressive prosecutors increase crime? A quasi‐experimental analysis of crime rates in the 100 largest counties, 2000–2020

“…Johnson et al, 2022;Starr & Rehavi, 2013). More broadly, chief prosecutors often set policy priorities in their jurisdiction, heavily influencing how the criminal justice system operates (Henry et al, 2023;Wright, 2020). Researchers have named prosecutors as either the driving force (Pfaff, 2017) or the most promising solution (Bazelon, 2020) to mass incarceration and other challenges the criminal justice system faces.…”

“…We begin by selecting the 100 most populous counties in the United States based on 2020 Census population figures. We examined large, urban jurisdictions as most progressive prosecutors have been elected in such jurisdictions (Bazelon, 2020;Henry et al, 2023;Romero, 2020). This allows us to compare crime trends in urban jurisdictions with and without progressive chief prosecutors and excludes less populous jurisdictions, which may have distinct crime trends.…”