January 10, 2023–Due Process Institute joined the Justice Roundtable and a bipartisan coalition of organizations to express opposition to H.R. 27, the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act. The goal of this legislation is clear: to pressure prosecutors to prosecute more cases more harshly despite bipartisan concerns that the United States already incarcerates far too many people for far too long.
H.R. 27 mandates that prosecutor’s offices in jurisdictions with populations over 380,000 disclose, for enumerated offenses, information related to the number of cases referred by the police, declinations, bail requests, plea bargains, an individual’s criminal history, and convictions. It also makes this reporting a requirement for funding under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (“Byrne”) and is based on a false premise that filing more criminal charges, detaining more people pre-trial, and making fewer plea offers will make our communities safer. Finally, this bill fails to require the collection of data that would provide a robust picture of prosecutorial practices and avenues for reform.
Meanwhile, this bill does not address violent crime. It rests on the assumption that more pretrial incarceration and more prosecutions seeking harsher sentences will increase public safety. Yet there is no evidence to support this. Research by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Institute found that non-reform prosecutors, the absence of bail reform, and increased police budgets did not prevent cities from experiencing a homicide spike in 2020. A better approach to public safety would be to invest in evidence-based approaches, such as non-carceral crisis response, violence intervention, substance abuse treatment, lifting barriers to reentry for formerly-incarcerated people, and investments in education, housing, and job training.
Furthermore, transparency in criminal legal system data is critical and there should be bipartisan efforts to improve data collection around arrests, prosecutions, and convictions; however, the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act is the wrong approach to achieve these goals. All communities should be able to hold their prosecutors accountable for their policies and actions. Prosecutors should disclose a wide array of data, including the demographics of those they prosecute. Experts have offered valuable models for how prosecutors can collect, monitor, and share data with their communities to improve safety, fairness, and equity. Yet this bill fails to require reporting of critical data needed to provide a full and accurate picture of prosecutorial practices.
As a result, the bill would not only not result in real accountability, but compliance would also come at the expense of reforms that are more likely to contribute to public safety. For all these listed reasons, we urge Representatives to oppose H.R. 27, the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act.