Brooklyn DA Eric. Gonzalez. Photo: David Handschuh/ALM

There is a relatively new movement emerging across the country called progressive prosecution. It is spearheaded by a group of very liberal prosecutors who serve in some jurisdictions where prosecutors are elected. A number of them are former public defenders and they all share an agenda of significant, often radical, change in the criminal justice system. Who are they, what do they want to do, and how has this movement impacted Connecticut?

Eric Gonzalez has changed the face of prosecution in Brooklyn, loosening enforcement of gun offenses and publicly disclosing his office's list of police officers blacklisted from testifying for the prosecution. In Cook County, Illinois, Kim Foxx campaigned and won election on a platform promising to reduce felony prosecutions for shoplifting and also to reduce mass incarceration. Larry Krasner has created controversy in Philadelphia by pushing back against sharing gun crime prosecutions with the state's Attorney General, and he is the first prosecutor to withdraw from the Pennsylvania District Attorney's Association.

Wesley Bell won election in St. Louis County, Missouri, defeating the long serving prosecuting attorney who had handled the grand jury investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He has eliminated requests for cash bond in misdemeanor cases, refused to prosecute marijuana cases involving less the 100 grams, and will not seek the death penalty. In Boston, Rachael Rollins was elected on a reform platform and has announced a list of 15 non-violent offenses her office will not prosecute. She has gone head-to-head with the judiciary to assert her right to dismiss charges against protesters.

Orlando elected state's attorney Aramis Ayala, whose refusal to prosecute death penalty cases resulted in a Florida Supreme Court decision that her policy could not stand. One of the former public defenders in the group is the newly elected DA for San Francisco, Chesa Boudin. Among his priorities are standing up to President Donald Trump on immigration policies and eliminating cash bail.

There is a common agenda among these and other progressive prosecutors, and it includes some radical reforms. Elimination of cash bail for all or some specific offenses is one item. Another is the refusal to bring death penalty prosecutions. At the other end of the criminal justice spectrum is a declination to prosecute marijuana cases and low-level traffic offenses. There is a concern for greater transparency regarding dispositions and police misconduct. Most call for greater accountability for police officers. Virtually all of these prosecutors pledge an end to mass incarceration.

Connecticut's prosecutors are appointed by the Connecticut Criminal Justice Commission. Forty- five states elect the head prosecutorial official on a county level, and assistants are hired by the head prosecutor. In these jurisdictions the path to progressive prosecution has been more direct than in Connecticut: it is by individual elections. Connecticut does not currently have a state's attorney who has publicly adopted an agenda of progressive prosecution, and its current state's attorneys have all been appointed from the ranks of assistant prosecutors with established experience in prosecution.

The impact of the progressive prosecution movement in this state has come mostly from the legislature in the form of recent legislation requiring greater prosecutorial transparency through data collection and greater openness of Criminal Justice Commission meetings. It has also started to come from the Criminal Justice Commission itself in a recent outreach for public input on the appointment of a new chief state's attorney. These changes are significant, but not radical, for Connecticut. What is important is that as the system changes, it continues to embrace prosecutors who can try cases and exercise sound prosecutorial discretion in administering individual justice for all.