5 Prosecutors With a Fresh Approach

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/us/change-minded-prosecutors.html

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ORLANDO, Fla. — They don’t talk about locking up the bad guys and throwing away the key. They talk instead about a justice system that jails too many people at the expense, they say, of common sense, public safety and even humanity. Here are five change-minded prosecutors, all of them Democrats whose campaigns were funded by the billionare George Soros, and the causes they have championed.

State attorney for Hillsborough County, Fla. (Tampa)

Age: 40

Elected: November 2016

Background: Former federal prosecutor

Promise: To find alternatives to prison for nonviolent and first-time offenders, especially juveniles.

District attorney for Mississippi’s 16th District (eastern Mississippi)

Age: 34

Elected: November 2015

Background: Defeated a 26-year incumbent, Forrest Allgood.

Promise: To expand alternatives like treatment for first-time offenders and drug users.

State’s Attorney in Cook County, Ill. (Chicago)

Age: 44

Elected: November 2016

Background: As a child, she was sexually abused and was for a time homeless.

Promises: To prosecute retail theft cases involving less than $1,000 of merchandise as misdemeanors. Prosecutors will no longer oppose the release of nonviolent offenders with bonds under $1,000 if they cannot afford to pay.

State attorney in Florida’s Ninth District (Orlando)

Age: 42

Elected: November 2016

Background: She is the first black elected prosecutor in Florida.

Promise: Won’t seek the death penalty.

District attorney for Harris County, Tex. (Houston)

Age: 57

Elected: November 2016

Background: She was the director of Crime Stoppers in Houston and of the city’s first anti-gang task force.

Promises: To avoid prosecutions for possession of small amounts of marijuana. To seek “very few” death sentences. To support changes that would jail fewer low-level offenders because they cannot afford bond.