Provides compelling and manageable solutions for how to reform the
criminal justice system from the inside out
A racial reckoning in the US criminal justice system was long overdue
well before the highly publicized murders of George Floyd, Breonna
Taylor, and many others in 2020. Progressive Prosecution argues that
prosecutors, having helped build our failed system of mass
incarceration, must now lead the charge to dismantle it.
With contributions from practicing district attorneys as well as leading
scholars in the fields of law and criminal justice, Taylor-Thompson and
Thompson's volume offers an unapologetically ambitious vision for
reform. The contributors draw from empirical evidence and years of
combined research experience to argue that change must happen at the
local level, with prosecutors choosing to adopt race-conscious
approaches. These prosecutors must do the hard work themselves, actively
focusing on the ways that race misshapes perceptions of criminality,
influences discretionary calls, affects how we select juries, and
induces a reliance on punitive responses. Progressive Prosecution acts
as both a call to action and a practical guide, instructing prosecutors
on what they need to do to bring about lasting and meaningful change.
Progressive Prosecution is an urgent work of scholarship, a must-read
for anyone committed to racial equity and meaningful criminal justice
reform.
