Social media scrutiny pushed prosecutors toward racial justice reforms

Evidence

Society’s increasing use of social media has created demand for information about whether prosecutors are fulfilling their commitments to impartiality and fairness. As a consequence, campaign promises are being more closely scrutinized, and policy changes are being examined for their impact on the communities of color. This thinking was instrumental behind, for example, Kim Foxx’s effort to raise the standard for felony shoplifting, or Larry Krasner’s effort to seek shorter community supervision terms (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2019), or even Cy Vance’s push for ending criminal prosecution of subway fare evasion (turnstile jumping) and marijuana possession and smoking cases (New York County District Attorney’s Office, 2018). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 596

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 596