Here in America, the number of people we choose to incarcerate makes up 25% of the world’s prison population. And that statistic was driven by mainly by state and local “tough on crime” prosecutors.

Prosecutors have a huge amount of power and control over who get criminally charged, who doesn’t, what crimes get pursued, and what crimes get ignored, who gets a plea bargain, and who gets denied or offered rehabilitative diversion programs.

If you want to change the system the fastest way is to become a reform District Attorney. But while that may be popular with the majority of voters in some areas, even these officials face a ton of well-funded resistance.

In this episode, Justin Kollar, who has been working as and for the Reform Prosecutor Movement since 2012 joins host Mary Whiteside to discuss the ways prosecutors can use their power to advance justice and divert resources to truly help communities and make them safer.

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Sources

https://fairandjustprosecution.org/about-fjp/our-work-and-vision/

https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/kauai-prosecutor-stepping-down-for-nonprofit-gig/

https://fairandjustprosecution.org/about-fjp/our-team/

Article on Willie Simmons: https://www.essence.com/news/willie-simmons-life-prison-alabama-habitual-offender/