Prosecutors Have the Ability to Decline Criminal Charges

Chief prosecutor (right) of Manhattan DA Alvin Braggs office (left) bragged about allowing a murderer to escape jail time. (Getty | Adobe Stock | Manhattan DA)

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's chief prosecutor, Meg Reiss, has previously said that prosecutors can ignore the rule of law and supplant their own ideology into prosecution decisions.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Reiss said in 2017 that prosecutors can use their power to ignore mandatory minimum laws at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

"Nobody understands the amount of discretion that prosecutors have," Reiss said. She stressed the independent "power" they have to decline prosecution cases can effect systemic change in the criminal justice system, which she believes is racist.

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"You know if [prosecutors] don't charge a crime, a judge can't sentence to that crime. If police officers make certain arrests, they [can] declin[e] to prosecute… And police officers can keep making… arrests but if the prosecutor decides not to prosecute that then that's it."

"At the federal level, talking about getting legislation passed in Congress to not have mandatory minimums or not… prosecutors unilaterally in each jurisdiction can do that on their own without any type of legislation statutorily not required. And they can choose what they want to charge and what not to charge, how they want to charge it, what to prosecute, what outcomes should be. They really have all of that power in their offices. But nobody understands that."

Reiss made the statements while heading the Institute for Innovation on Prosecution, an organization she founded in 2016 which collaborates with prosecution offices, including the Manhattan DA, to bring about racial equity reforms.

The institute believes in an ideologically driven approach to prosecution that takes into account historical factors. For example, the Institute argued in a report, signed with Reiss' name, that prosecutors must focus on "acknowledging our nation’s shameful history of slavery and racism which continues to cloud the criminal justice system."

About criminals, she has consistently argued for leniency and more understanding, including for those harming victims with violent assaults.

"So one of the first things [to] do is change the language: ‘the bad dude.’ What does that mean? What are the circumstances of that person coming into the criminal justice system in the first place? And what is the background to that person?" Reiss said.  READ MORE...