The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

Even worse, Inquirer reporters have drawn a line from Krasner’s policies to gun violence
with little factual support. The story, ““Criminal justice system at center of swirling
debate as gun violence continues in Philly,” compares gun cases brought at the end of
2017, before Krasner took office, and those brought at the end of Krasner’s first year, in
2018.
The story acknowledges that “criminal justice experts caution against drawing
conclusions based on data tracking charging decisions or conviction rates alone,” but
goes on to do just that, concluding that “Krasner’s office secured a lower percentage of
guilty verdicts and saw more cases tossed than the year before.”
The analysis doesn’t attempt to discern why more cases were dismissed, and there is
no explanation as to how this supposedly relates to recent shootings. But the
suggestion is clear: Krasner’s office does a poor job prosecuting cases, and that makes
Philadelphia more violent.
There are similar problems with another story about Krasner’s use of court diversion
programs for gun cases. This one reports that Krasner has referred more cases of
unlawful gun possession to diversion than did his predecessor.
The lead anecdote involves a man who entered diversion after his first arrest, and who
a year later was arrested and charged with murder. There is no apparent connection
between the initial diversion referral and the subsequent murder, let alone to gun
violence generally. But to make her point, the reporter resorts to hearsay, writing that
there are “some on social media” who have held up this case “as an example of how
they say District Attorney Larry Krasner’s policies are too lenient and lead to gun
violence.”
Throughout the piece, the reporter downplays positive outcomes and omits research
showing that diversion helps people keep their lives on track, thereby improving public
safety. She also acknowledges that Krasner’s office has rarely offered diversion to
people with prior arrests or convictions, or to those who commit a shooting. But she
ultimately highlights two exceptions out of more than 100, even though both shootings
were deemed to have been accidental or defensive.
Another story, “Philly’s top cop wonders if gunmen are emboldened by perception of ‘no
consequences,'” uses a headline to suggest that Krasner is at fault for shootings, but
omits the fact that police have “cleared” shootings at a rate no better than 30 percent in
each of the last five years.
Unsolved shootings predate Krasner, and the issue often has little to do with the actions
of prosecutors, but those details are absent from this story. Additionally, the story
minimizes the fact that Krasner has prosecuted gun cases brought to his office at a
slightly higher rate than his predecessor -- a point that itself contradicts the throughline
connecting each of these stories.
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