PCE Resources

Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office (Milwaukee, WI)

Population: 600,000 | Number of Full-Time Prosecutors: 120 | Contact Information

With assistance from an Innovative Prosecution Solutions (IPS) grant, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office has hired an Opioid Community Prosecutor to improve opioid trafficking and death investigations and connect overdose victims with needed services. This special prosecutor works closely with the West Allis Police Department Drug Unit and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to build cases and identify people who need treatment for addiction.

Office of the Worcester County District Attorney (Middle District Attorney) (Worcester, MA)

Population: 830,000 | Number of Full-Time Prosecutors: 88 | Contact Information

The Middle District Attorney’s Office has established the Worcester County Overdose Death Response Initiative funded by an Innovative Prosecution Solutions (IPS) grant, modeled after a similar initiative in Richmond County, New York, to investigate all fatal opioid overdoses as potential homicides. Researchers at Fitchburg State University are conducting data analysis, which will help the team develop geographic investigation and prosecution strategies.

As police departments across the United States embrace the use of police body-worn cameras, it is imperative that prosecutors be involved in the process as early as possible. The cameras will inevitably capture a great deal of evidentiary material that will be used in every type of criminal prosecution. Thus, systems and policies must be developed to ensure that this evidence is properly captured and delivered to the prosecutor in a timely and usable way, and that prosecutors have the resources to view, store and redact the recordings.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Author(s): Kristine Hamann, Rebecca Rader Brown

A prosecutor’s core mission is and has always been to promote justice and to protect the community by ensuring public safety. Over the past 30 years, the way prosecutors approach this mission has evolved. In place of the old, reactive criminal justice model, prosecutors and police are using new methods and evidence to take a proactive, broader approach to preventing, investigating, and prosecuting crime.

One of the many benefits of being part of the Best Practices network is the ability to share information with prosecutors across the country about promising programs and how to implement them. Prosecutors’ Center for Excellence (PCE) held a two-day conference in Boston on July 19 and 20, 2016 with prosecutors from 17 states in attendance. One topic was how to create community programs on a shoe string.

Here is a sampling of the varied – and excellent – programs highlighted during the meeting: