VOTE411 Voter Guide

I have been a prosecutor in the Winnebago County District Attorney's Office since 2005, and have served as District Attorney since 2022. I plan to continue the work we have done to create an office that operates both thoughtfully and efficiently, embraces non-traditional approaches or diversion when appropriate, works with community partners, and effectively utilizes data to improve criminal justice systems.

Some amount of autonomy is necessary for prosecutors to keep up with heavy caseloads, and allowing them to have such autonomy is easy to swallow in an office with a number of very experienced prosecutors. However, it remains important to create a structure that facilitates uniform treatment of similar cases. Established case handling policies can be useful for setting a baseline, but are really just a starting point. Specialization is an effective way to encourage consistency. The less prosecutors handling a particular type of case, the more consistent decision-making we will tend to see.

Further, discretion should be exercised at the earliest practical point in the process. Criminal justice system professionals have become increasingly aware over time that simply issuing a criminal charge against an individual can bring about significant consequences. Whenever possible, prosecutors should be thinking ahead to what they want to see as an outcome before making charging decisions.

Our goal, whenever possible, is to issue the case with the charges at the level we ultimately want to pursue. If the objective is to have the defendant placed on probation for a misdemeanor level offense, that is how we charge the case. We discourage our prosecutors from issuing a felony when they know they are seeking a misdemeanor level resolution. When a prosecutor in this office issues a felony charge, for example, that is a very strong indicator that the prosecutor is seeking a felony level outcome.

The system is not equipped to have a trial on every case. Negotiation is appropriate as long as it is based on legitimate factors and not coercive. Transparency is also helpful, and in Winnebago County, offers for resolution are frequently made very early on in the course of a case's progression through the system.

Prosecutors are uniquely situated to impact which cases even get into the criminal court system. We are also in at least as good a position as any other system participant to meaningfully evaluate the massive amount of data that is now available, often even to the general public, about case outcomes, recidivism, and to generally answer the question, "Is this likely to make things better going forward?" Over the last 20 years, our access to helpful data has increased dramatically. Not everything is intuitive. It would be irresponsible for us not to make use of the available data in our decision-making.

Many cases require prison sentences. Prosecutors, as well as other participants in the system, bear great responsibility in making sure to make such recommendations when it is appropriate, and to not do so when it is not appropriate.

Availability of programming appropriately plays a role in prosecutors' decision-making. For example, if we have confidence in a drug or alcohol monitoring program, it makes releasing certain people from custody realistic, where we would not have been otherwise comfortable doing so. Similarly, if we are able to monitor a person's progress over time, this could factor into what we believe is an appropriate outcome for a case, either in a positive or negative way.

One thing that large data sets have taught us is that when selecting people for diversion programs, selecting the right people is important. We need adequate assessment tools. It is now well established that, for example, putting high risk people into a program designed for low risk people will lead to worse outcomes. Putting low risk participants into programs for high risk people will also make things worse. Well designed programs and assessments lead to better outcomes for those at either end of the spectrum.