Who’s Policing the Prosecutors? Prosecutorial Accountability with Emily Bazelon

In the midst of a national conversation about holding police accountable, DA Boudin and Rachel are joined by Emily Bazelon, New York Times Magazine writer and Author of the book Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration to discuss prosecutorial accountability.  They discuss the problem of the lack of transparency over the decisions prosecutors make despite their enormous influence.  Emily shares some stories from her book Charged about prosecutorial abuse and discusses the broad independence prosecutors have to make decisions with little oversight.  DA Boudin, Emily and Rachel also explore the lack of accountability for prosecutors in providing discovery, charging, and especially in plea bargaining, and think about the ways in which progressive prosecutors can enact changes to promote fairness.  Finally, they discuss the ways the public can hold progressive prosecutors accountable, as well as the relationship between national politics and the progressive prosecution movement.