How the Right Can Lead the Judiciary on a More Productive Prosecutorial Path
In a new policy study, R Street Institute Senior Fellow of Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties Lars Trautman finds that the actions of prosecutors necessarily implicate conservative criminal justice priorities like public safety, fiscal responsibility, due process and the value of life and family. As such, conservatives should include prosecutors’ offices as a critical component in any criminal justice reform endeavor.
Trautman goes on to find that reimagining conservative prosecution is not a zero-sum game. Every stage of the criminal process presents opportunities for a conservative-minded lead prosecutor to make life better for their own prosecutors, the community and even many defendants. Furthermore, these mutually beneficial measures represent the kind of locally driven policy that conservatives ought to cheer.
The author concludes, “Just as conservatives helped usher in smarter and fairer policies elsewhere in the justice system, they can be part of the leading edge of revisions to prosecutorial practices and culture.”
