A lot of people run for office claiming they are going to change the culture of the institution they are running for. They win, make a few cosmetic changes, but pretty soon we have to cue up Peter Townsend because the new boss is the same as the old boss.
New Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner looks like he might be a different cat though. Kranser is a civil rights attorney. He won the election in part thanks to a heap of George Soros money. Soros has been quietly spending big to help progressive candidates get elected at the D.A. level and sweep in criminal justice reform.
Krasner has only been in office for three days, and he’s already fired 31 people! From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
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Krasner’s spokesman, Ben Waxman, said the dismissals were part of a “broad reorganization” of the office’s structure and a way to implement a culture change in an institution Krasner frequently criticized during the campaign…
The sweeping change affected lawyers of all ranks and could represent a 10 percent reduction in the number of prosecutors. Names were not released, but current and former employees — none authorized to publicly discuss the moves — said the group included trial attorneys and some supervisor-level staff, many with decades of experience. As many as a third of the office’s homicide prosecutors were asked to leave, sources said.
The announcement was the first bombshell in what some of his supporters have hoped — and his critics have feared — would be a wave of drastic changes accompanying the installation of the career civil rights lawyer to the city’s top law enforcement job.
Hot damn, son!
This is like in the movies when the cop has to go to jail and all the criminals he put behind bars gets a piece of him, only in the reverse. Working as a defense attorney, you get a sense of which prosecutors are solid public servants doing a difficult and important job, and which ones are in for the power and racism. Clearly, Krasner came in with a list of people he no longer wanted representing the city of Philadelphia in court.
I somehow doubt 31 is going to be the end of the bloodletting.
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If you want criminal justice reform, this is what it’s going to look like. Prosecutor’s offices are full of people without the temperament and discretion to mete out justice to all races and peoples fairly. Those people need to be removed, and you need district attorneys with the will to remove them.
Looks like it’s going to be a new day in Philadelphia. Somebody tell acting (soon to be permanent) Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzales how it’s done.
Krasner dismisses 31 from Philly DA’s Office in dramatic first-week shakeup [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.