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A county or district attorney holds extraordinary power.
They decide who gets charged for crimes, and garner deals that could give someone a lighter sentence instead of gambling their freedom against longer prison time in jury trials, said Lyla Mahmoud, American Civil Liberties Union of Utah’s legislative and policy counsel.
That’s why this year, the ACLU’s Smart Justice initiative has been working to teach the public about this role and how policy plans could affect people in your community.
One example: “Tough on crime” policies can perpetuate the cycle of crime and punishment and disproportionately impact communities of color, according to the ACLU. The organization recommends that policies should instead work to fix core issues — including mental illness, poverty and drug addiction — that can lead some people to commit crimes, Mahmoud said.
[Read more: Salt Lake County D.A. Sim Gill, challenger Danielle Ahn clash over public safety]
The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other nation and has increased its reliance on the criminal justice system to respond to such core issues, the ACLU said in a 2018 report.
The report argues putting more people in Utah jails and prison is a costly and ineffective solution and instead advocates for reforms that divert people from prisons to treatment, soften certain sentencing requirements and put checks on prosecutorial power.
“If you’re looking at things to reduce mass incarceration, somebody who runs on a ‘tough on crime’ platform, that’s a red flag,” Mahmoud said, “because that’s somebody who’s saying, ‘I want to incarcerate people. I want to increase mass incarceration.’”
The ACLU of Utah has taken its message across the state, reaching Grand County on Oct. 10 for a county attorney debate, where unaffiliated candidates Christina Sloan and Stephen J. Stocks are running against each other.
In Utah County, the organization planned a similar event before the county attorney primary in June, but Jeff Gray, who ultimately beat incumbent David Leavitt, declined to participate. He called the ACLU and other groups hosting the event “agenda-driven, left wing organizations.”
In Salt Lake County — where incumbent District Attorney Sim Gill, a Democrat, is running for a fourth term against GOP candidate and recent law school graduate Danielle Ahn — Mahmoud said the ACLU is still trying to determine what sort of events could help spread the ACLU’s message.
She urged voters to look out for candidates who say they won’t offer certain accused offenders plea deals, like Ahn has said, because that could be an indicator that they would incarcerate more people, and whether or not candidates agree with “alternatives to incarceration,” like pre-file diversion programs or specialty courts.
Ahn has the backing of the Utah Fraternal Order of Police, who disagree with Gill’s pre-file diversion initiatives and other reforms the group believes decreased public safety and demoralized officers. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, the state’s top cop, also has endorsed Ahn.
Mahmoud also recommended paying attention to whether candidates are using their power and discretion for the arguable good of the community, including choosing not to pursue low-level drug charges or camping offenses.
Another question to ask of candidates, she said: Do they understand how they may contribute to mass incarceration, and how they plan to address it?
The ACLU surveyed district and county attorney candidates across the state on these questions. See their responses at smartjusticeutah.org.
