Salt Lake County District Attorney: 21st Century Prosecution Biden Letter

Press release from Salt Lake County District Attorney:

2021-08-18

Today, 107 criminal justice leaders – including a high-level bipartisan group of current and former elected prosecutors, Police Chiefs, Sheriffs, and former Department of Justice officials – sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to establish a Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Prosecution. The task force would build on the work of the reform-minded prosecutor movement, catalyze innovation in the criminal legal system nationwide and chart a path to greater justice and equity in all communities. The letter coincided with the release of Fair and Just Prosecution’s new white paper, “The Case for a Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Prosecution.” The white paper outlines why this effort is urgent with waning trust in the criminal legal system. The system can be reformed by elected prosecutors responding to community voices, reaching a bipartisan agreement, and coalescing around the need for smarter strategies to promote public safety. 

“Pursuing justice is more complex than arresting people and putting them in jail.” Said District Attorney Sim Gill. “Merely focusing on punishment rather than on public safety is an old and outdated way of thinking. Finding solutions, solving historical problems, and ensuring public safety to serve all in our community requires new and innovative ways. We are working every day to find a new way forward in Salt Lake County. By signing this letter, I urge the Biden Administration to find a new way forward as well.”

The FJP white paper recommends that the task force be modeled on President Obama’s Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Policing and include elected state and local prosecutors, defense and civil rights attorneys, community law enforcement leaders, people with lived experience with the criminal legal system, survivors of crime, researchers, DOJ leaders, other federal experts, and others with a stake in a more fair and just criminal legal system.

The signatories emphasize the need for federal leadership to support and expand the reach of the reform-minded prosecutor movement: “Every day, we fight for fairness and justice in our jurisdictions. We work in our jurisdictions to advance a new vision of justice, one in which all Americans are safe from harm and oppression, and empowered to collectively build a better future. We need allies and support in that fight. And we need national engagement.”

“For too long, prosecutors have used their vast discretion to pursue convictions and extreme sentences as part of a false promise of public safety; a new generation of prosecutors is changing this paradigm and prioritizing equity and justice while also improving the safety and well-being of our communities. It is time for the Biden Administration to propel this movement forward and act to create lasting and sustainable change to the criminal legal system,” said Miriam Krinsky, Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution and a signatory on the letter. “A Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Prosecution will engage a variety of stakeholders in reimagining prosecution and therefore the entire criminal legal system. There is no time to wait to begin this essential work.”

The over 100 criminal justice leaders who joined on to the letter to the President include Attorneys General Leevin Camacho (Guam), Thomas J. Donovan, Jr. (Vermont), Keith Ellison (Minnesota), Karl Racine (District of Columbia), and Kwame Raoul (Illinois); local elected prosecutors such as Parisa Dehghani-Tafti (Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, Va.), Michael Dougherty (20th Judicial District, Colo.), Kim Foxx (Cook County, Ill.), Sim Gill (Salt Lake County, Utah), Eric Gonzalez (Kings County, N.Y.), Rachael Rollins (Suffolk County, Mass.), Dan Satterberg (King County, Wash.), Mimi Rocah (Westchester County, N.Y.) and Cyrus R. Vance (New York County, N.Y.); and former DOJ officials and U.S. Attorneys such as Roy Austin, Shay Bilchik, W. Thomas Dillard, Barry Grissom, Robert L. Listenbee, Carter Stewart and Joyce Vance. Law enforcement leaders who signed onto the letter calling for the Task Force’s creation include Police Chiefs RaShall M. Brackney (Charlottesville, Va.), Abdul Pridgen (Seaside, Calif.) and Tom Synan (Newton, Ohio), Sheriffs Jerry L. Clayton (Washtenaw County, Mich.) and Garry McFadden (Mecklenburg County, N.C.), and former law enforcement heads Jim Bueermann, Chris Burbank, Ronal Serpas, Darrel Stephens, and Scott Thomson, among others.

Read the letter and see the complete list of signatories here and read the white paper here.

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This press release was produced by Salt Lake County District Attorney. The views expressed here are the author’s own.