For the Defense - Vol. 9, Issue 3 - 27

3. What measures will you take to investigate and rectify wrongful convictions in Pennsylvania?
The Office of Attorney General has a specific unit to address wrongful convictions in Pennsylvania called the Conviction Integrity Section. As a
member of the Executive Committee for the Pennsylvania District Attorney's Association, I worked with my District Attorney colleagues around
the Commonwealth and the Attorney General's Office to establish protocols for referring and investigating cases to the Conviction Integrity
Section in order to review credible claims of innocence. At my personal invitation, the Conviction Integrity Section gave a presentation to the
York County District Attorney's Office and we established points of contact for further communication and collaboration on these critical cases.
As Attorney General, I will fully support continuing the work of the Conviction Integrity Section and their full collaboration with the PDAA.
4. How do you plan to address the issues of racial and socioeconomic disparities in the criminal justice system?
Addressing racial and socioeconomic disparities in the criminal justice system is directly related to the responses I provided to Question 1 and
Question 2. The community-based collaboration approach outlined previously directly impacts disparities and improves the wellbeing of all
individuals and their families who are justice involved. To not repeat what I previously stated, I will rely on my prior responses.
Additionally, I also had the honor of serving as the District Attorney representative on the Pennsylvania Sentencing Commission from 20202023.
During this time, we adopted the 8th Edition of the Sentencing Guidelines, which was the most comprehensive revision created to date.
A focal point of discussion during the establishment of the Sentencing Guidelines was decreasing disparities in sentencing and addressing the
lack of appropriate consideration of mitigating factors and age of prior records. The 8th Edition will vastly improve the nature and quality of
sentencing in Pennsylvania, and I am proud to have worked on such an important document to decrease disparities in our criminal justice system.
5. What role do you see for criminal defense attorneys in ensuring a fair and balanced justice system, and how would you support them in this
role?
As a career prosecutor, I experienced how important it is to have skilled and effective criminal defense attorneys representing individuals
charged with crimes. Quite frankly, it was very challenging to ensure justice occurred if opposing counsel lacked either the resources or the ability
to effectively advocate for their client. This is especially so regarding the presentation of mitigation evidence to prosecutors and the courts for
diversionary or other sentencing considerations.
Increasing the difficulty in this area is the growing lack of attorneys to fill critical positions as prosecutors, public defenders, and conflict
counsels. If we do not correct staffing crises in these agencies, we will doom our entire system of justice.
As Attorney General, I will be active in developing training and recruiting of attorneys to be prosecutors, public defenders, and conflict
counsels. I also support full and fair funding for these agencies. Finally, I encourage the development of personnel positions for criminal defense
attorneys devoted to investigating and presenting mitigation evidence to prosecutors and courts so that we may achieve the highest levels of
justice and public safety.
6. What is your view on the current state of the criminal justice reform movement in Pennsylvania and what your approach would be to further
these reforms, e.g., bail reform, indigent defense funding?
As District Attorney of York County, I implemented numerous criminal justice public safety initiatives that are highly successful. I discussed
those approaches and methodologies at length previously, particularly in response to Question 1.
Other examples include a focus on law enforcement based mental health initiatives through the Crisis Intervention Team and Co-Responder
Model, which resulted in less than 3% and 1% respectively of individuals actively undergoing mental health need being arrested and unnecessarily
prosecuted and instead being diverted to treatment-related interventions. Since the implementation of the York County Early Termination of
Probation Program, only 5% of the cases submitted recidivated within two years, resulting in a 95% success rate. Our Early Termination Program
served as the model for the recent legislation that provided for early termination of probationary sentences.
Finally, I am a great supporter of reentry initiatives and as District Attorney have heavily invested in reentry services. For instance, my First
Assistant District Attorney serves as the Managing Co-Chair of the York County Reentry Coalition. Additionally, I supported the creation and
establishment of the Reentry Opportunity Center available to reentrants, their families, and the public, which is located in a former section of
our York County Prison that we were able to convert for reentry services due to our reduction in crime and prison population.
Vol. 9, Issue 3 l For The Defense 27

For the Defense - Vol. 9, Issue 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Vol. 9, Issue 3