New Jersey Partnership Provides Safe Places to Combat Hate and Bias Crimes (2023)

Authors: PCE, New York County District Attorney’s Office, San Diego District Attorney’s Office, and Queens District Attorney’s Office

-What does bias look like?
-How can prosecutors reduce bias when working with their witnesses?
-How do you remove bias from your work?

Read our latest report to find ways that you can reduce bias and become a more empathetic prosecutor for victims, survivors, and witnesses. 

Presentation moderator Kristine Hamann of PCE discusses reducing the criminal justice footprint with Assistant DA Nicole Ortsman-Dauer (New York County, NY) and DA Beth McCann (Denver, CO) at the October Best Practices Conference, “The Modern Prosecutor As Problem Solver – Looking to Data and Collaboration for Solutions”.

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.

Authors: Arc, NAMI, PCE

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) or mental illness are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, as victims, witnesses, suspects, and defendants. In an effort to inform prosecutors’ strategies when working with these individuals, PCE, in collaboration with the Arc and NAMI, has developed this guide. 

On February 13, 2019, the Vera Institute of Justice hosted a webinar to provide an overview of the resources and objectives of the Serving Safely National Initiative to Enhance Policing for Persons with Mental Illnesses and Developmental Disabilities. PCE is a partner on the initiative and works alongside Vera to provide training and technical assistance to prosecutor’s offices on innovative programs addressing people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities. Recipients of the training and technical assistance include the Rockland County DA’s Office (NY), Los Angeles County DA’s Office, and the New York State Attorney General’s Office. 

The Pima County Attorney’s Office in Arizona has established a volunteer program for members of the community interested in assisting crime victims and people in crisis. The vetting and training process for victim advocate volunteers is very thorough to ensure high quality candidates are selected and are committed to long-term volunteer service.  The Victim Services Division currently has close to 100 volunteers, some of whom have served for decades.

According to the National Center on Aging, approximately one in ten Americans over age 60 has experienced some form of elder abuse. Furthermore, financial exploitation of seniors costs between $2.9 billion and $36.5 billion annually.

Kris Hamann (PCE) and John Delaney (Philadelphia DA’s Office, Retired) share strategies for addressing witness intimidation.

Witness intimidation and witness tampering can occur in any case, from simple misdemeanors to homicides. It has a variety of consequences from the silencing of an entire community, to the murder of a witness, to the recantation of truthful testimony. Though witness intimidation is an insidious problem, there are strategies throughout the investigation and prosecution of a case that can help to keep a witness safe and reduce the impact of intimidation.