For the People

April 12, 2021
Civil rights lawyer Krasner’s uneven debut combines a searing critique of the criminal justice system with a rehash of his successful 2017 campaign for Philadelphia district attorney. Krasner’s platform consisted of no longer prosecuting low-level marijuana possession charges, eliminating the cash bail system, and, more generally, moving away from the city’s “get tough on crime” approach. Despite strong opposition from the police union, Krasner won by a large margin, and he credits his victory to the example of “progressive prosecutors” in San Francisco, Seattle, and other cities, and “a growing national people’s movement for criminal justice reform.” Krasner persuasively articulates how his vision of “decarceration” can reduce crime by moving resources away from locking people up and toward “public education; treatment for mental illness, addiction, and trauma; and economic development.” But his self-congratulatory tone occasionally grates, and he tends to disparage those who disagree with his approach as “bullies and cheats” rather than fully engaging with their arguments. The result is an impassioned yet one-sided argument that’s unlikely to change minds.