A Prosecutor's Vision for a Better Justice System - Essay Sample

Introduction

In his Ted talk titled a prosecutor's vision for a better justice system, Adam Foss talks about the huge role that is played by prosecutors and the district attorney's office in determining the fate of the people who are presented in the court system of the united states. He goes ahead to examine the fact that prosecutors can determine the fate of juvenile offenders throughout their lives. He wonders why the United States is the most incarcerated country as compared to other OECD countries (Watkins). According to Foss, the US criminal justice system should focus more on reform and prevention of the people who are presented in courts. Adam Foss, a former prosecutor in the Suffolk County district attorney's office in Boston, suggests that the US justice system should be reformed thoroughly such that the amount of taxpayers' money that is spent in the mass incarcerations across the country can be used set up institutions and mechanisms that will replace the current punitive and life-wrecking system with one that improves their lives for the better. To substantiate this point, Adam Foss gives an example of a situation when a kid is presented to the US justice system after committing a crime.

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He says that the prosecutors are at liberty to choose whether to prosecute the juvenile as mandated by the current prosecution law or take a step towards the right direction in making sure juveniles' lives are not ruined by criminal records that pile up for misdemeanors that they commit. Foss makes the audience burst into laughter when he asks them whether they had committed some common misdemeanors such as shoplifting, acting up, drinking before the legal age, physical fighting even with a sibling, among many more in their juvenile age. What is interesting is that when asked whether they considered themselves a danger to society or whether they should be defined by the indiscretions they committed when they were young, no one lifted his/her hand. This clearly shows that most people in society do not agree with how the current US justice system is operating. The number of young people's lives that have been destroyed due to decisions made by prosecutors who rather than giving them other options such as plea deals, returning or paying for the stolen/vandalized/stolen property hurriedly and inconsiderately slap them with criminal records and jail time that affects their lives forever.

Adam's narrative of his experiences when he was an intern in Rocksberry, a poor neighborhood in Boston that is known for gun violence and drug-related crime sheds light on the fact that the issue of racial discrimination in the US justice system is real. Black and Latino people who were presented to the court and pleaded not guilty, the prosecutors, who were predominantly white made decisions that changed the lives of those people forever (Watkins). What is worry some is that the justice system did not care or consider the fact that the people sent to jail had initially sought help only to be turned away with none. Foss says that principles taught in law school regarding the role played by racism, trauma, poverty, family violence on increasing the frequency of encounters with the criminal justice tools. This is particularly a common issue among communities of color, especially those that live in abject poverty.

Adam Foss reiterates that prosecutors in the US justice system know that they have much power to make a great impact in the reform process of the US justice system. However, he thinks that they have not been properly trained to use the power to do good and that they lack the knowledge of the negative impacts that the power has, especially when it used badly. Harding 193 laments that entry-level prosecutors being given the task to make decisions that impact the life of the people they prosecute without allowing or giving them the option of thinking outside the boss regarding a particular case is part of the reason why many young people with misdemeanors are being sent to jail (Foss). Foss tells the audience that he was one of the entitled kids who went to law school and later had to work in the district attorney's office as a prosecutor in Boston, without the proper understanding of the community because he was not allowed to visit such a neighborhood as a kid. He accepts that he was faced with several dilemmas in the 10 years he served as a prosecutor in Boston and that he began devising alternative sentences for many people he represented.

He narrates the story of Christopher, a senior high school kid who had a great future ahead of him were it not for a crime he committed that brought him to the doors of a courtroom. He describes Christopher as a hardworking teenager from a humble background who had the dream of going to college after his senior year in high school. To raise money, Christopher stole 30 laptops and sold them on the internet. After being arrested his case file fell into the hands of Adam Foss for prosecution. Adam was confused as he knew that a single decision on whether to prosecute Christopher through the traditional process could ruin his life completely. It would be difficult for him to be admitted to college with a criminal record let alone secure a scholarship. Foss gave him a plea deal that helped him recover most of the laptops he had sold and signed an agreement with the store manager of the store from which Christopher had stolen the laptops on a repayment plan for the unrecovered laptops. Christopher was also required to do community service as his penance. What wows the audience is that Adam Foss recounts how he later met Christopher at a leadership conference, and how he (Christopher) embraced him and thanking him for having given him another shot at life. Christopher who informed Adam that he was a manager of a large bank in Boston is an example of many young people who deserve another chance to succeed in life if only prosecutors were able to make better choices.

The power to change the united states criminal justice system is largely dependent on the commitment by prosecutors and the public to redress the traditional problems that have led to mass incarceration, especially of people of color (Gonzalez, 13; Wright, 396). Foss urges the audience to ensure that they understand what their district attorneys stand for, as they are the ones that vote them into office. He informs the audience that they properly vet candidates for the positions before voting them into office.

Works Cited

Foss, Adam. "A Prosecutor's Vision For A Better Justice System". Ted.Com, 2020, https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_foss_a_prosecutor_s_vision_for_a_better_justice_system#t-6845.

Gonzalez, Eric. "Using the Power of Prosecutors to Drive Reform." Criminal Justice 34.3 (2019): 9-14.

Harding, Seth. "On prosecutorial decision making: Factors and philosophies." Law & Psychol. Rev. 43 (2018): 193.

Watkins, Matt. "Prosecutor Power #5, Adam Foss: Use Your Power Well | Center For Court Innovation". Courtinnovation.Org, 2020, https://www.courtinnovation.org/publications/adam-foss-podcast.

Wright, Ronald F. "Reinventing American prosecution systems." Crime and Justice 46.1 (2017): 395-439.