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Session Submission Summary

Innovation and Reform in Prosecution: Outreach, Declination, Diversion, and Case Outcomes

Wed, Nov 12, 11:00am to 12:20pm, Marquis Salon 3 - M2

Session Submission Type: Regular Session

Abstract/Description

How are prosecutors rethinking their role in the justice system? This panel presents five empirical studies examining innovations in charging practices, diversion, victim outreach, and case declination -- highlighting both reform efforts and evolving approaches to transparency and case processing. A New Orleans evaluation measures early progress under a reform-minded DA; a Philadelphia trend analysis traces a decade of traffic-fatality charging in a shifting policy landscape; data from Pennsylvania link dismissals and declinations to one-year recidivism; a randomized controlled trial with the Dallas DA’s office shows how early victim outreach alters charging decisions; and mixed-methods research on Virginia mental-health dockets dissects prosecutorial gatekeeping in diversion. Together, these papers reveal how prosecutorial innovations succeed in some domains, while institutional constraints continue to shape key decisions and outcomes.

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