LEGAL TRAINING
Transforming the DA’s Office’s approach to criminal justice requires recognizing the inequalities that have been inherent in law enforcement to date and actively working to eliminate them. This re-orientation requires a robust training program. Manhattan must be on the cutting edge of teaching its Assistant District Attorneys humane prosecution practices.
To establish a national model, Lucy will focus on effective training in:
Practices of procedural justice — research shows that a criminal justice system that conducts neutral decision making, acts with transparency, treats participants with respect, and gives them a voice achieves reduction in crime and restores faith in the system. As an ADA, Lucy helped implement Procedural Justice Training at the Manhattan DA’s office, including delivering an address to the incoming class of ADAs in 2019. The Office must train all Assistants on these practices, and conduct ongoing training to ensure that procedural justice is maintained.
Trauma-Informed Prosecution — ADAs must center their investigations around victims to take into account the trauma they have suffered and to avoid exacerbating it. Trauma-Informed Prosecution Training teaches ADAs to keep trauma front-of- mind when interviewing those accused of crime themselves and take trauma into consideration when determining appropriate case dispositions.
Cultural humility — The Manhattan DA’s Office attracts well-educated and motivated applicants from across the country. When new ADAs start work at the Office, they must be trained on the realities of the cultures and communities that reside in the City, and must not make assumptions based on stereotypes of different backgrounds.
Implicit bias — individuals charged with crimes deserve case dispositions untainted by any explicit or implicit prejudice based on race, ethnicity, gender presentation, sexual orientation — or any other criteria other than the individual facts of a given case. Implicit Bias Training helps Assistants realize the source of their biases so that they can approach every case as free from pre-existing influence as possible.
Ethical obligations — complying with ethical obligations is inseparable from procedural justice and a transparent and respectful system is unafraid to engage in full discovery, including of exculpatory information. Manhattan ADAs will receive annual training on their ethical obligations around discovery, Brady, conflicts of interest, and disclosure of law enforcement materials.
Inside Criminal Justice — DA’s Office staff members will study criminal justice alongside incarcerated students and collaboratively develop policy in a required course called Inside Criminal Justice. By harnessing the power of honest discussion, proximity, and the liberal arts model of the exchange of ideas to unite students, the course breaks down barriers between incarcerated people and the prosecutors who handle their cases. This type of mutual understanding is a requirement for a justice system in which all people are treated with dignity and respect.
Career-long learning — a stated goal of the Legal Training Unit for the entire Office will be to promote career-long learning, offering consistent instruction on the topics above and the latest developments in legislative reform, investigative techniques, and trial advocacy.