Urges Prosecutors to Protect the Public Through Traditional Functions
RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local and territorial prosecutors to:
(1) continue or develop programs designed to protect crime victims and witnesses from threats, intimidation, and injury by securing and enforcing orders of protection, vigorously prosecuting any instances of intimidation, and implementing plans for witness safety;
(2) mitigate, whenever feasible and appropriate, any adverse collateral consequences to crime victims and witnesses that may result from their participation in the criminal justice process, including those related to immigration, housing, and employment;
(3) support the development and application of evidence-based diversion, probation and re-entry programs based upon information objectively proven to increase public safety, reduce recidivism and provide restorative justice and restitution to victims and thereby promote public confidence that the criminal justice system is fair and effective;
(4) collaborate with members of the community and community-based social service providers to develop and implement crime-prevention and other pro-active initiatives targeted at youth and other at-risk groups who pose a risk to community security;
(5) consider and, when appropriate, utilize a variety of remedies designed to reduce crime and promote justice, including the issuance of grand jury and analytic reports, proposals for legislative reform, civil suits seeking monetary and injunctive relief, and requests for court-mandated trusteeships or monitors for corrupt institutions; and
(6) utilize the latest advancements in science and technology to seek to identify and convict guilty defendants and to assure ensure that innocent individuals are neither prosecuted nor wrongly convicted;
(7) implement new technologies to improve data collection and analysis, and also to shareing information, when it is appropriate to do so, with other agencies and the public, to demonstrate that decision-making is based on sound information and data, as well as on sound concepts of fairness, justice and ethics; and on sound information and data; and
(8) seek to ensure that all pleas of guilty or nolo contendere are knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily entered in conformity with constitutional requirements by informing a court before whom such plea is entered of any perceived procedural defects or omissions and asking the court to take corrective action before accepting a plea.
(9) support an effort to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current forensic science methods that will set an agenda for basic and applied research to fill in the gaps between forensic practice and sound scientific support.
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DELETIONS STRUCK THROUGH; ADDITIONS UNDERLINED
RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local and territorial prosecutors to:
(1) continue or develop programs designed to protect crime victims and witnesses from threats, intimidation, and injury by securing and enforcing orders of protection, vigorously prosecuting any instances of intimidation, and implementing plans for witness safety;
(2) mitigate, whenever feasible and appropriate, any adverse collateral consequences to crime victims and witnesses that may result from their participation in the criminal justice process, including those related to immigration, housing, and employment;
(3) support the development and application of evidence-based diversion, probation and re-entry programs based upon information objectively proven to increase public safety, reduce recidivism and provide restorative justice and restitution to victims and thereby promote public confidence that the criminal justice system is fair and effective;
(4) collaborate with members of the community and community-based social service providers to develop and implement crime-prevention and other pro-active initiatives targeted at youth and other at-risk groups who pose a risk to community security;
(5) consider and, when appropriate, utilize a variety of remedies designed to reduce crime and promote justice, including the issuance of grand jury and analytic reports, proposals for legislative reform, civil suits seeking monetary and injunctive relief, and requests for court-mandated trusteeships or monitors for corrupt institutions; and
(6) utilize the latest advancements in science and technology to seek to identify and convict guilty defendants and to assure ensure that innocent individuals are neither prosecuted nor wrongly convicted;
(7) implement new technologies to improve data collection and analysis, and also to shareing information, when it is appropriate to do so, with other agencies and the public, to demonstrate that decision-making is based on sound information and data, as well as on sound concepts of fairness, justice and ethics; and on sound information and data; and
(8) seek to ensure that all pleas of guilty or nolo contendere are knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily entered in conformity with constitutional requirements by informing a court before whom such plea is entered of any perceived procedural defects or omissions and asking the court to take corrective action before accepting a plea.
(9) support an effort to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current forensic science methods that will set an agenda for basic and applied research to fill in the gaps between forensic practice and sound scientific support.
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DELETIONS STRUCK THROUGH; ADDITIONS UNDERLINED
