Conviction Review Today: A Guide for Prosecutors

Author: PCE

The Delaware Attorney General’s Office has a dedicated Community Engagement Unit that strives to create a safer community through consistent collaboration with the community and many outreach programs from resource fairs to reentry support. A member of the unit was formerly incarcerated and has provided invaluable assistance with community engagement.

Dan Clark, Chief of the Criminal Division in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (WA), shares strategies for prosecutors on how to facilitate discussions about race, social justice and equity. 

Prosecutor offices across the country are enlisting the help of trained courthouse facility dogs to provide comfort and support to vulnerable witnesses and victims throughout various stages of the criminal justice process. These dogs undergo at least a two-year training period and are specifically bred to detect a person’s stress level.

To better address domestic violence, this guide provides strategies to prosecutors that increase victim safety and offender accountability and includes information on multi-agency collaborations and co-located service models such as family justice centers.

Office of the Licking County Prosecuting Attorney (Newark, OH)

Population: 175,409 | Contact Information 

The LCPA is creating a Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) that will focus on vertical prosecution to hold offenders accountable and ensure community safety.

St. Paul City Attorney’s Office (St. Paul, MN)

The St. Paul City Attorney’s Office (SPCAO) created the “Gone on Arrival (GOA) Project” to address threat issues in domestic violence cases when the offender is not at the crime scene when law enforcement arrives.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Seattle, Washington has provided civil protection to victims of domestic violence for over thirty years through its Protection Order Advocacy Program. They now leverage a tool called Legal Atoms, a software platform in which protection order specialists can work alongside victims remotely to complete the steps necessary to file for a civil protection order. See PowerPoint. The office also created Project Safety, a partnership with civil Legal Aid to provide legal navigators to DV victims to assist them with needed civil services. 

Social isolation isn’t stopping the Nassau DA’s office from connecting to their community. See how they’re virtually reaching out more than ever.

District Attorney General Amy Weirich discusses remote Grand Jury with officers presenting their cases via Zoom. They now have three remote Grand Juries.