Kansas County & District Attorneys Association’s Best Practices Committee Overview

The Committee: The KCDAA’s Best Practices Committee has 20 members, both elected district attorneys and assistant prosecutors representing small, medium and large jurisdictions from different parts of the state. The committee meets in person at least four times per year and corresponds over email or by conference calls in the intervening months. For an overview of the committee, click here.

This eyewitness identification toolkit provides prosecutors with an overview of the research behind witness memory and offers guidance for developing identification procedures. Prosecutors should take the lead in making sure that the identification procedures used in their state yield reliable, admissible evidence. The first step is to learn what procedures their police departments are using and to determine if they are fair and reliable.

Prosecutors’ Center for Excellence is available to prosecutors to offer further assistance on the issues briefly described below.

Encryption of smartphones and other digital media has thwarted law enforcement’s ability to keep communities safe. Even with a lawfully issued search warrant, the information requested cannot be accessed from encrypted phones. This loss of evidence is referred to as “Going Dark.”

To demonstrate the real dangers of Going Dark, we need to hear about your affected cases. Helpful examples include cases where evidence in a smart phone is unattainable due to encryption, but could have been critical in solving cases such as a homicide, a robbery, a lost child, or a terrorist attack.

Authors: PCE and National Black Prosecutors Association

As we know, prosecutors must be fact-based and fair in the pursuit of justice. Prosecutors cannot base their judgements on whim, bias or hunches. Studies have shown that all people have implicit biases that could influence their decisions. Training can help prosecutors to understand this issue and provide strategies for assuring that prosecutorial decisions are based on the facts and not predisposed by irrelevant implicit biases.

Here are some articles and a podcast about good prosecutors:

The Boss Didn’t Play Politics – New York Law Journal (12/16/2016) Read

Criminally Yours: What Makes a Good DA -Above The Law (10/17/2016) Read

Davidson County District Attorney’s Office (Nashville, TN)

Population: 715,884 | Number of Full-Time Prosecutors: 75 | Contact Information

The Davidson County District Attorney’s Office (DCDA) expanded their identification of human trafficking victims/survivors to increase access to services and improve prosecution of traffickers. DCDA received funding from Innovative Prosecution Solutions (IPS) to improve a validated Trafficking Victim Identification Tool and partner with the county probation department to expand screening of potential victims.

Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office (Detroit, MI)

Population: 1,793,561 | Number of Full-Time Prosecutors: 180 | Contact Information

In order to reduce violence, The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office has established a dedicated team to respond to all non-fatal shootings (NFS) in one of its high need precincts. A vertically assigned team from the prosecutor’s office is responsible for the case from the initial incident through final judicial resolution.

Cook County State’s Attorney (Chicago, IL)

Population: 5,211,000 | Number of Full-Time Prosecutors: 900 | Contact Information

In response to its jurisdiction’s increasing rise in shootings and homicides, The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) utilized Innovative Prosecution Solutions (IPS) resources to identify and prosecute individuals who are most likely to engage in gun-related offenses in six of Chicago’s neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence.

Author(s): Bradley Altvater, PCE

Criminals are increasingly using shadowy corners of the internet to mask their identities and conduct illicit activities. Marketplaces on the “dark web” facilitate a range of criminal activities, including human trafficking and the distribution of child pornography. However, law enforcement and prosecutors are not helpless in the fight against these new criminal tactics.

Video evidence is exploding. Surveillance videos, YouTube clips, smart phone recordings and body worn camera videos are frequently part of the evidence in a case. This primer provides guidance for managing video evidence in the office and for introducing it in court. Read