What's Changing in Prosecution? Report of a Workshop (2001) / Chapter Skim
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5 Alternative Conceptions
5 Alternative Conceptions
Pages 29-40
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From page 29... ...
Incarceration doubled during that period, not as a result of strategic planning on the part of prosecutors or other law enforcement officials, but more in a piecemeal fashion because of popular and political pressure for offender accountability. The sum of law enforcement efforts by prosecutors and police to stem these problems, however, seemed, in Zachary Tumin's words, "to have left neighborhoods not much safer, the vulnerable and weak no less fearful, relationships broken by crime no more restored, and to have created few new bonds of citizenship" (Tumin, 1990: 21.
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From page 30... ...
MODELS OF PROSECUTION Several themes emerged from the Executive Session for State and Local Prosecutors that workshop participants felt were consonant with their own discussions. One was that prosecutors have an ongoing and important role in several areas: providing speedy and just dispositions; ensuring appropriate conduct on the part of other public officials, especially police; and controlling crime by "setting its price" during plea negotiations.
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From page 31... ...
The goal is to handle each case in an efficient and equitable manner to meet standards of justice, rather than to pursue larger social goals such as crime control, or creating more vital local commercial districts, or making schools safer. Case Processors: Sanction Setters In addition to achieving a speedy, equitable, and just result, most prosecutors believe that setting sanctions as "the price of crime" during plea negotiations can achieve certain social purposes of punishment such as deterrence, retribution, and rehabilitation.
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From page 32... ...
The Executive Session found that prosecutors in some cases have taken responsibility for coordinating publicly available help that falls outside of their usual realm in many cases, such as health and social service resources. Problem-solving prosecutors may develop a better sense of institutional resources and the potential their own actions may have on institutional functions and governance.
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From page 33... ...
The most significant effects of crime, then, might be invisible: weakened social ties, increasing personal perceptions of powerlessness, a reduction in individual participation in community life, and in part a cause of the collapse of supporting institutions (Tumin, 19901. The locus of an institution-building prosecutor is the shoring up of these institutions, by working within neighborhoods to develop solutions, and by using his office to defend these vital neighborhood assets from criminal disruption and disorder.
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From page 34... ...
Workshop participants expressed strong reservations, echoed in the Executive Session summary, about a major overhaul in the way prosecutors go about their work (Tonry, 19911. As a result of participating extensively in the Executive Session, workshop participant Michael Tonry has distilled the above prototypes into four models of prosecution: · The Manager concerned with leading a complex organization and focused on achieving organizational objectives by keeping guilty plea rates, trial rates, and conviction rates to office standards.
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From page 35... ...
Second, many participants felt that in the real world the different constituencies and interests affecting criminal justice, social service, health, and other pertinent organizations would make an overarching leadership role for prosecutors unlikely, even if they wished to assume it. Third, several workshop participants pointed out that many citizens would not want the public prosecutor insinuating himself or herself into other spheres of their lives.
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From page 36... ...
This new policing philosophy grew out of a perceived crisis in law enforcement involving rising levels of crime and a general distrust of police by residents, especially minorities, in urban communities. Community prosecution, like the community policing movement, is grounded not only in the problem-solving approaches we have described, but also in the theory that involving ordinary citizens as co-producers of safety and public order will reap important benefits both for the community and for criminal justice agencies.
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From page 37... ...
District attorneys in community prosecution sites have had to decide, in cooperation with community residents, what their role should be in responding to disorder offenses, assuming they accept the linkage. Scholars have concluded that what is emerging from community prosecution efforts is a redefinition of the elected prosecutor's institutional role in crime prevention, crime control, and the maintenance of public order a responsibility that seems to many practitioners far removed from their traditional focus on doing justice in individual cases.
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From page 38... ...
They have targeted specific serious behaviors of known offenders such as gun violence, while ignoring less serious drug possession offenses, and have clearly and specifically communicated their intentions to those offenders to enforce the laws with regard to the targeted behavior (Kennedy, 19991. They have made youth access to guns more difficult by enforcing laws against carrying weapons on the street and by cracking down on various types of illegal gun sales.
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From page 39... ...
They developed merchant/ resident coalitions and organized public safety plans that almost uniformly called for intensified law enforcement (more officers) in their areas, and in some cases an assistant district attorney dedicated to prosecuting the crimes that affected their businesses and neighborhoods.
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From page 40... ...
· · . evaluating community prosecution programs.
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