Philly DA: Independent Lens series, premieres on PBS tonight

One of the post-Michael Brown/Ferguson, Missouri initiatives has been a focus on local prosecution, and the process of criminal justice at the local level.  

In a number of cities, more "progressive" district/prosecuting attorneys have been elected, to reform the criminal justice prosecution system, to make it "more fair," to address "over policing," to reduce the number of prosecutions for low level crimes, to reduce or eliminate the need for bail, to limit the use of policing and criminal justice as a form of "racialized social control," etc.

-- "The New Reformer DAs," American Prospect
-- "The Facts on Progressive Prosecutors," Center for American Progress
-- "With push for progressive D.A.s, elected prosecutors feel the pressure of a changing profession," Los Angeles Times
-- "The progressive prosecutors blazing a new path for the US justice system," Guardian
-- Prosecutors Alliance, association for progressive DAs

Philadelphia, with the election of Larry Krasner as DA in 2017, has been at the forefront of this change ("Larry Krasner’s Campaign to End Mass Incarceration," New Yorker).

And in cities like Philadelphia, New York City ("New York Tried to Get Rid of Bail. Then the Backlash Came," Politico), and San Francisco, there have been serious hiccups, with people released pending trial going on to commit heinous crimes ("Parolee accused of killing 2 pedestrians in S.F. allegedly stole car from date he met on app," San Francisco Chronicle).

Police unions have been vocal opponents, as was the Trump Administration ("The Trump Justice Department’s war on progressive prosecutors, explained," Vox).

The Independent Lens documentary program is featuring an 8-part look, titled "Philly DA," at the changes in Philadelphia under Krasner, which have been met with a fair amount of controversy and opposition.  It happens that he is up for re-election, and he is facing a primary challenge ("Philly DA Larry Krasner and challenger Carlos Vega enter election homestretch as gun violence surges,").

-- "PBS's Fascinating Philly D.A. Poses a Crucial, Timely Question: Can Our Broken Criminal Justice System Really Be Fixed?," Time Magazine

Like with "defund the police," I think the problem is what we might call an "all or nothing" stance.  The reality is that there is crime, and dangerous people.  

The challenge is to limit "mass incarceration" and the criminalization of people by hoovering them up into the criminal justice system through "gateway" crimes like marijuana use (I personally don't favor marijuana use but think that its criminalization has been incredibly harmful, especially to minorities and minority communities), while still aiming for public safety.

But "no bail," a preference for pre-trial release, decriminalization of certain types of nuisance crimes which do have deleterious impact on specific communities ("After crime plummeted in 2020, Baltimore will stop drug, sex prosecutions," Washington Post) can be problematic.

So far we haven't been able as yet to achieve a middle ground.  I guess you could argue that this is the "teething process" and that the process of change is always difficult and sometimes problematic.