Eliza Orlins. Photo: YouTube/Eliza Orlins for Manhattan DA

A Manhattan public defender is the latest addition to a crowded field of candidates for the 2021 New York County District Attorney race.

Eliza Orlins, 37, announced her candidacy Thursday, joining a group that includes New York State Assemblymember Dan Quart, D-Manhattan, former New York State Chief Deputy Attorney General Alvin Bragg, criminal defense attorney Liz Crotty, civil rights attorney Tahanie Aboushi and civil rights attorney and organizer Janos Marton.

Incumbent District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has not yet announced his plans for 2021, a spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.

If elected, Orlins said she wants to change the culture in the DA's office and decrease incarceration.

"Right now, we don't have a system of justice here in New York," Orlins said in an interview. "We have a criminal legal system that's cruel and unjust and it does not make us safer."

Orlins said she has represented more than 3,000 clients in the past decade as a public defender. She is currently taking a leave of absence from The Legal Aid Society while she campaigns.

She said she'll roll out policy plans in the coming months, but her priorities include decriminalizing low-level offenses linked to poverty and improving treatment and diversion options.

"[We'll make] treatment the rule rather than the exception, whether it be mental health court or diversion court," she said. "Making that the rule and not something that is unattainable for most people who enter the system."

Orlins said she's inspired by the campaign of public defender Tiffany Cabán, who ran for Queens District Attorney in 2019 and narrowly lost the Democratic primary. Orlins campaigned for Cabán, whom she described as a former colleague and former softball teammate.

"She really paved the way for public defenders to run on these decarceral platforms and to speak up about issues like decriminalizing sex work and reinvesting in communities and ending cycles of violence, and she has served as a huge inspiration to me," Orlins said.

Orlins is also a former contestant on two reality television shows: "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race."

Clarification: Civil rights attorney Tahanie Aboushi's name was left off the list of candidates for Manhattan district attorney in a previous version of this story.

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