A year ago, the local US Attorney adopted a new charging policy that doubled the prison time for 100s of affected defendants.
They said the policy applied citywide.
It didn't.
🚨It only ever applied in the Blackest parts of the city🚨
When the U.S. Attorney announced the new policy at a press conference back in February of 2019 she said it applied to "essentially all" of the city.
There's no polite way to say this: That was a lie.
And she knew it was a lie when she said it.
How do I know this? My students and I have been fighting the policy for a year. And as the @washingtonpost now reports, the DOJ, responding to our briefs, recently admitted that they've been targeting the three Blackest precincts in the city from the start.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is…
If that weren't shocking enough, the Government has also now disclosed that an internal "Working Group of Black AUSAs" has formed within the US Attorney’s Office to fight the policy from the inside - as we fight it from the outside.
To folks who know anything about federal prosecutors, this is a stunning revelation.
Internal rebellions like this are incredibly rare from line prosecutors. Doubly so when they are siding with criminal defendants charged with "street crimes." And it's triply rare for a group to formally constitute itself as "the Working Group of Black AUSAs."
Clearly, these Black federal prosecutors have seen something deeply troubling going on inside their office and they are taking a stand against it.
Good for them. That takes some guts.
But they aren’t the only ones speaking out against the policy. It has been opposed as racially unjust from the start by the locally elected DC Council, the locally elected DC AG @KarlRacineDC, the @ACLU_DC, the @urbaninstitute, and Yale Law Prof. @jformanjr, to name a few.
It’s bad enough that a Trump appointed US Attorney can impose a controversial and harmful policy against the express wishes of the local legislature and local electorate in DC.
Lying to the People of DC about what the US Attorney’s Office is actually doing is … much worse.
But here’s the thing: The U.S. Attorney may not answer to the People of DC, but he still works for them—and for all of us. There's a reason we call the U.S. Attorney’s Office "the Government," after all.
And for a Government to be legitimate it has to be honest.
The Government failed that test here.
Really, it’s simple: You can’t *say* you’re adopting a citywide policy when in fact you are secretly implementing a policy that targets the Blackest parts of a segregated city in order to send hundreds of Black men to prison for more than double the amount of time.
The US Attorney now says in the Post that the policy was changed few weeks ago and that the initial policy was not equitable.
This new position is news to me, to my clients, and to the Court. We're reading this in the Post for the first time.
If what the US Attorney means to say is that he is ending this unjust and unlawful policy, as we've been urging for months: good. I assume he will ensure that the scores of people "inequitably" prosecuted under the policy over the past 16 months will see their cases dismissed.
But given the striking discrepancies between what the government has said publicly on this issue and what it has later said in its formal filings to the Court, I hope the US Attorney will understand our reserving judgment.
Either way, our hope is that the US Attorney has in fact listened to the Working Group of Black AUSAs in his office who have been sounding the alarm over the policy and urging him to "end" it. He should do that, before the program is deemed unlawful and ended for him.
For those who would like to dig into our legal claim, you can read the reply brief we filed a few days ago here: bit.ly/ReedReply
The seven @Harvard_Law student-attorneys who have worked on this case and on all of our briefs over the past year are some of the most impressive lawyers I know. Working with them has been one of the best parts of becoming a law professor.
And of course, our co-counsel at the DC Federal Public Defender's office have been terrific partners.
More information coming out now about the Working Group of Black federal prosecutors in DC, whose existence was revealed by our litigation challenging the DC US Attorney's ineffective and illegal charging policy. washingtonpost.com/local/public-s…
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Today we are publicly launching the Institute to End Mass Incarceration. I hope you'll take some time to read about our mission, our approach to our work, and our incredible (and growing) team.
We're here to work with, strategize with, brainstorm with, and support the many existing communities and leaders already deep in the essential work of decarceration. endmassincarceration.org
We're also thrilled to have amazing fellows on our team:
Next week, we are launching @_inquest_, a platform for bold, decarceral ideas. We're kicking it off with a series of panels from folks with a wide range of experience and expertise (see thread). Come learn more about Inquest and join our “decarceral brainstorm.”
First, on Tuesday, @premaldharia, @cristianafarias and I will share how Inquest came to be, what we hope it will do, & how it will bridge disciplines & experiences to create a catalytic space for idea-sharing & change. Reg: bit.ly/3BviUFO
Also Tuesday, @rachaelbedard, @dawnrHarrington, Adeola Ogunkeyede & @premaldharia discuss how people from across fields — organizers, lawyers, medical doctors — must work together to understand and address mass incarceration, root and branch. Register: bit.ly/3iDpAJB
This morning we went to court to challenge the Biden administration's continuation of a widely condemned policy fueling mass incarceration in Washington, DC.
Hours earlier, 87 former federal prosecutors wrote to AG Garland to demand that he end this racially unjust tactic.
👀👇🏾
“I’m shocked that more than 100 days in we’re still in an active appeal on something that is so opposed to what the Biden administration claims it’s about.” @tobmer, Dir. of @Harvard_Law Project on Predatory Student Lending washingtonpost.com/education/2021…
This is a really thoughtful and well written piece from @teamtrace on the Biden administration's hugely disappointing decision to continue a Trump-era policy that is fueling mass incarceration in DC. Well worth a read! Some highlights include... thetrace.org/2021/04/channi…
Calling out the DOJ's misguided and hypocritical argument that longer sentences will deter crime:
"According to the Justice Department’s own research...prison sentences, particularly long ones, are unlikely to deter crime and in some cases may have an opposite effect."
Noting that the policy is unsurprisingly NOT reducing crime in the District:
"In 2019, D.C.’s homicides rose another 4 percent despite the new initiative, according to Washington Metropolitan Police statistics, surpassing a recent high in 2015."