All language subtitles for Philly.D.A.S01E01.1080p.WEBRip.x264-BAE_Track03

[soft music]

♪

[wind howls]

reporter: It is the election

reverberating
across the country.

reporter: Voters
in Philadelphia

have chosen a progressive

as their new district attorney.

reporter: Larry Krasner.
This is a guy

who people said
no way he could win.

- Put your left hand
on the Bible,

raise your right hand.

It's time to swear you in.

reporter: He's never held
the office of prosecutor

or been a prosecutor.

Reporter:
Krasner promises big changes

to the city's justice system.

reporter: Do police officers
have a reason to worry

about Krasner becoming D.A.?

- This may be a major
historical turning point

for the city of Philadelphia.

[applause]

♪

[car horn honks]

[scanner beeps]

- Is there a way
we could find out every...

every pending...

marijuana possession case?

Is this every pending
marijuana possession case?

- No.
- That's just...

- That is just seven
days' worth of arrests.

- But why the police picked up
51 people for possession

of a small amount of marijuana
in a week remains to be seen.

- Which is crazy.
- [bleep].

- Right.
- I mean,

any pending case
involving this nonsense,

I think we should be dropping.

Why do we care
whether it's 30 grams

or it's 60 grams, honestly?

- Just, that's what
the statute says.

- I, frankly, think
we should reject possession

of marijuana for larger
than 30-gram amounts,

which is only slightly
over an ounce.

- Right now, for coke
and crack, it's two grams.

- What if we were
simply to double it?

Four grams or, say, five grams?

Anyway, that
ridiculous nonsense is gone.

- Can we have the exact
same conversation

about prostitution?

- We want to start
declining prosecution

on prostitutes and johns.

- Right now, in the state,

it's, like, three to one
the seller is arrested

and prosecuted compared
to the buyer of sex

and the punishments
are very disproportional.

- Undercover police are also
having sex with the prostitutes

before they arrest them.

- To me, it's not
that tough a call

that we're not gonna
prosecute sex workers.

Does anybody think
that's a tough call?

- No.
- No.

- The thing we have to do
is we have to avoid

falling into this pit
of how government behaves,

which is a pit
of having meetings

to talk about naming a committee

to think about having
a series of meetings.

We're here because
we're different than that.

- A lot of the entrenched
power in the city

around these issues

believes in things based
on ideas they formed

25 years ago, right?
- Mm-hmm.

- And they are going to attack
us for doing different things.

And then we make decisions
which we have to own

for better or worse.

[suspenseful music]

♪

Maurice: First of all,
let me just record this,

if you don't mind?
Krasner: I don't mind.

- Hey, my name is Maurice
and I'm here

with Mr. Larry...
- Larry Krasner.

- Larry Krasner.

He is running for District of...

- Attorney.
- Attorney.

So I have one question for him.

My question is
what is he gonna do

to actually cause some change
here in Philadelphia?

- We're gonna stop spending
money on stupid

and start spending it on smart.

Stupid is putting everybody
you can find into jail,

and smart is putting the money
back into schools.

It's also putting it
into job training,

putting it into
economic development

because people with jobs
don't commit crimes.

We got more people in jail

than any other country
in the world

and we still call ourselves
the land of freedom.

We gotta go
a different direction.

It's happening all over
the country,

it needs to happen here.

- All right,
I'ma tell you something.

That right there was
the perfect answer.

- Well, thank you.
- I appreciate everything

you're doing,
I need you to keep doing it.

And I think it's gonna
happen for you, all right?

- Well, it's not
the perfect answer

in every neighborhood
with every person.

- Exactly.
- But you and I see eye to eye

on this.
- [laughs]

Hey, Larry, Larry, I like you.
- All right, great to meet you.

- Tell 10 people
to vote for Larry.

- All right.
I got it, I got it.

- When he told me
he was running for D.A.,

I was laughing so hard,
I almost crashed.

Literally
almost crashed the car.

I basically said,
"You're running for what?"

[punk music]

♪

- It was funny when he first
said he was gonna run.

It seems
a little bit ridiculous.

- I was like, "What?"

[laughs]
"You?"

- Larry Krasner has been
a civil rights attorney

for three decades and has
defended Black Lives Matter,

Occupy Philadelphia, and Act Up.

Hayes: Larry Krasner is
the last person in the world

you would think would be
the prosecutor

of one of the biggest cities
in America.

- My name is Larry Krasner.
I'm the attorney

for John Sellers
in this civil matter.

Hayes: He is the kind of guy

who shows up on the evening news

because he's the lawyer
for the anarchists

that got arrested protesting.

- The police chief says
his troops are on full alert

just in case the protesters
try to disrupt the convention.

- If what he's talking about
is people

who want to make signs

and exercise civil
disobedience, then bring it on.

- He has sued the Philadelphia
Police Department

some 75 times.

[shouting]

Krasner: My client was
viciously beaten on video.

This D.A.'s office prosecuted
him, not those officers.

Moss-Coane: He has spent
his career in opposition

to the District Attorney's
Office.

- This is a district attorney

who is effectively in bed
with law enforcement

and will do everything
in her power

to cover for them
when they do the wrong thing.

Moss-Coane: This is not
the typical resume of someone

who wants to be district
attorney of Philadelphia

or any city, for that matter.

DiClaudio: Prosecutor's
a special mentality.

Law and order.

To want to be a prosecutor,

almost by nature,
you're conservative.

Defense attorneys
for Occupy Philadelphia

don't become prosecutors.

[cheering]

- I said, "You'll be D.A.
when David Duke's

the head of the ACLU."

reporter: Obviously,
this individual will not be

the next district attorney
of Philadelphia.

Moss-Coane: But these are not
normal times.

[cheering]

- Philadelphia District
Attorney Seth Williams,

is sentenced
to five years in prison

after pleading guilty
to accepting a bribe.

♪

Shea:
It was a fairly big shock.

On the other hand,
we're in Philadelphia.

Indicted elected officials
are not a big shock.

reporter: He also admitted to
defrauding a nursing home

caring for his ill mother.

- I expected some of the
bribery and corruption stuff.

The stuff about the nursing
home fraud

was really disturbing.

Shea: He, of course,
wasn't gonna run again,

so that opened up
an entirely new field.

[applause]

- Welcome to today's District
Attorney Candidate Forum

featuring
six of the seven Democrats

running for Philadelphia
District Attorney

in the upcoming
May 16th Pennsylvania primary.

- When we all were in
the D.A.'s office doing reforms

and doing the right thing,
Mr. Krasner

was making a lot of money
as a criminal defense attorney

and sitting on the sideline
and complaining

and that doesn't make you
a reformer, that makes you

a criminal defense attorney
with a lot of money.

- Mr. O'Neill,
when I started my career,

was in kindergarten.

I am a career
civil rights lawyer.

I'm the only attorney
in the history of this city

to have been intimately involved

in overturning 800 convictions
by corrupt police officers,

convictions gained by the
very office that he worked for.

Okay?

[applause]

So I'll tell you right now.

You want to know
how we end a culture?

A culture
of malicious prosecution,

recklessness about the facts?

We get the right people.
That's how we do it.

[applause]

[upbeat music]

Sanchez: Through the campaign,
we just saw people

that had been traditionally
disengaged getting engaged.

- This guy's gonna
seek out justice

and I got a chance to talk
to the guy,

and it was awesome.

man: Krasner is the person
to go in,

clean house,

rock the boat, blow [bleep] up.

- We need
to end mass incarceration.

We gotta get away from cash bail

'cause there are some people
who just can't pay bail.

- Bail, exactly.
- And then, of course,

those people just end up
pleading guilty

whether they're guilty or not.
- Exactly.

- I don't know why you're
prosecuting sex workers.

I mean, that doesn't make
any sense to me.

I will not seek
the death penalty.

[applause]

- He speaks the language
of the movement

and that was
what I really appreciated.

Krasner:
When you make a decision

about putting someone in jail

at $42,000 a year,

you ponder the consequences

in terms of that money
not being in the schools.

Not being in drug treatment.
Not being in job training.

All of which are
actually proven to stop crime.

Jones: The message started
spreading in barbershops,

in backyards,

in church basements,
through the jails,

and it really became
this groundswell.

It's invaluable
for people to understand

how much directly-impacted
people played

in mobilizing for Larry Krasner.

- The D.A. election
is more important

than the presidential election
in our community.

Krasner:
There is a racist aspect

to the system that's undeniable.

We got a higher rate
of incarceration

for people of color
than there was

in South Africa
during apartheid.

It's absurd.

- It helped that
he was a white man

saying this, right?

Who can call out people

more than a privileged
white man?

- Pleasure working with you.

Krasner: This is a movement
that is tired

of seeing a system
that has picked on poor people,

primarily Black
and brown people.

[crowd chanting]
I believe that we will win.

I believe that we will win.
I believe that we will win.

I believe that we will win.

[line ringing]

- Hi, we want to see
if you are supporting Larry.

- It is a very close race ma'am,

which is why I'm calling.

- Are you gonna support Larry,
by chance?

- Thank you very much.

Krasner: I absolutely
could have continued being

a defense and civil rights
attorney until I retired.

- The location for Saturday's
canvas has changed to...

Krasner: But this is a chance
to try to bring about

real change
in a system that needs it.

When I was
a young public defender,

I had a client,
a homeless person,

looking at one
to two years in jail

because it's his third or
fourth or fifth retail theft.

And last time,
it was Eveready batteries

and this time it's food, right?

One to two years in jail.

What I saw was
a whole bunch of this,

"We told you not
to this last time,"

as if that is
an intelligent solution

to what is happening here,
which is obviously

a, you know,
a confluence of poverty,

mental health issues,

simple hunger.

- We gotta go, L.K.

- The policy was essentially,
"Lock 'em up."

Lock more of 'em up.

Lock 'em up for longer.

That is what you saw
for 30 years.

Day after day
after day after day after day.

That's what you saw.

You hit 55, 56 years of age

and you see that the whole time,

the system is getting worse.

Mass incarceration is winning.

- We gotta go.

- The D.A. is the most
powerful player

in the criminal justice system

and the District Attorney's
Office broke the system.

So I think the D.A.
might be able to fix it.

♪

[old-time music]

♪

reporter: In Philadelphia,

justice rests
on the shoulders of a man.

The district attorney,

the chief law enforcement
officer of the community.

His primary responsibility

is to protect
law-abiding citizens

in society's
endless war against crime.

His decisions affect the lives
of millions of people.

Tripp: The role of an elected
district attorney

is one of the most powerful
in politics.

Hands down.

[siren blares]

♪♪

The police arrest someone.

The police then recommend
charges to the prosecutor.

Both whether you charge
and what you charge.

Both are significant
and important decisions,

and that discretion
doesn't rest in the law.

That discretion rests
with prosecutors.

- Is this first-degree murder
or second-degree murder?

Is that 30 years
in prison or 15?

If the D.A. says, "I don't
care, I'm dropping it,"

it's dropped.

Tripp: There's only one
district attorney.

And that person has a blank
check to create policies

that affect tens of thousands
of individuals every year.

man: Well, this guy really
shouldn't be

out on bail at all.

♪

Washington: From the late
'70s, early '80s,

up until the early decades
of the 21st century,

the incarceration rate
in Philadelphia

went through the roof.

Rudovsky: Philadelphia does
have its own distinct history

of very aggressive prosecutors

on the promise
that the tougher we are

and the more people we lock up,

and the longer we lock them up,
the safer we'll be.

- When you're talking
about jury selection,

that is probably the single
most important part of a case.

You don't want smart people.

They take those words
"reasonable doubt"

and they're actually trying
to think about them.

You want people to come
in there and say,

"Yep, she said he did it,
he did it."

And that's what you want.

- People have made
political careers

by starting as prosecutors,
"I'm tough on crime,

"I'm the toughest person
on the block,

I lock up more people
than anybody else."

And that played very well
for many years.

- But even those two...

Rudovsky: I started when the
prosecutors were tough,

but nowhere near what we saw
later with Lynne Abraham.

- My desire is not only

for longer periods
of incarceration

and for a wedge to be jammed
in the revolving door.

Temin: In order to keep
a job in her office,

you had to go for the jugular
in every single case.

DiClaudio: You wanted to win,

you wanted to impress
your bosses,

and if you lose every case,
you're not gonna get promoted.

- How many cells do you
need to alleviate overcrowding?

- If we can double cell

our present prison facilities,

we would have 5,400 spaces.

- We had a crime problem.

There's no denying that.

But when crime rates
started going down,

the rates of incarceration
continued to rise.

So in Pennsylvania, they built

nine new prisons in the 1990s.

Pfaff: During that time,
the total number of people

charged with felony cases,
which is the kind

of sentence that exposes you
to real prison time,

grew dramatically.

And that's a decision
prosecutors made

entirely on their own.

Abraham: Those offenders
who are pillaging the city

and holding it hostage

have a great deal
to be worried about.

♪

I don't like anything
about Larry Krasner.

"Mass incarceration.

We're gonna
turn out the jails."

Well, good luck with that

when somebody hits your
grandmother over the head.

All this business about...
That he talks about,

is not gonna make
the city safer or better.

♪

reporter: A career defense
attorney is the front-runner

to become Philadelphia's
next top prosecutor.

Civil rights attorney
Larry Krasner

whipped a crowded field

to win the city's Democratic
primary for district attorney.

reporter: Democratic
billionaire investor,

George Soros,
sent $1 1/2 million his way.

reporter: Krasner's resume
and his campaign themes

have made him a hero
to some, and a bum to others.

As Krasner's supporters
celebrated his victory,

some chanted anti-police
slogans for being shushed

by campaign staffers.

John McNesby of the Fraternal
Order of Police

was characteristically blunt.

- They're the bottom feeders
of the city

that was gathered
all in one place.

- He's a radical and the mob
that was with him

the night on election night
was chanting, "Eff the Police."

- He's never been
pro-law enforcement.

He's said that about us
his whole career.

Krasner: There has not been
prosecution

of police misconduct,
police murder, police abuse

by this D.A.'s office
for 30 years.

People who are too close
and too cozy

with the Fraternal
Order of Police.

Tripp: It's not just that
he sued the cops 75 times.

It's while suing them,
he repeatedly,

incessantly, consistently,

alleged that they
were violent liars.

- My attitude
about police is real simple.

I think when you wear
a uniform, you come correct.

You take an oath, you have
a duty, you come correct.

If you think this
is "Romper Room"

for beating people up
and stealing from them,

you're gonna have
a problem with me.

- The FOP is very powerful

and they control a lot of people

and a lot of votes.

They look at Larry as someone

who's opposed
to everything they stand for.

McNesby: Now that this guy
has won the primary,

this lynch mob here
has taken for granted

that they'll be able to do
what they want to do

once he gets elected.

That being said,
we're not out of the game yet.

reporter: Tonight, a big
endorsement in the race

for Philadelphia
District Attorney.

The Fraternal Order of Police

will support Republican
nominee, Beth Grossman.

reporter: Grossman worked in
the Philadelphia D.A.'s Office

for 21 years.

- This race is about
experience and qualification.

- She has the support
of law enforcement

and not just
the Fraternal Order of Police,

but every law enforcement agency

in the Philadelphia area.

That's all people have to know.

- The D.A.'s office,
I'm proud of my 21 years there.

He may think
it's a corrupt organization.

I have dealt with victims
from all walks of life,

including young children
all the way to senior citizens.

Everybody deserves to be safe
in their neighborhoods.

Reporter:
Days away from the election

and the most noteworthy race

here in Philadelphia,
is the district attorney seat.

- Anarchy.

- His philosophy is almost
to identify

with the defendant,
which is not your role.

The people who you walk
into court standing next to

are victims of crime.

- The way justice
has been defined

by this District
Attorney's Office has been,

how many convictions
can we get and how many years?

- When you stand up
and you fight for victims,

and you get people convicted,

and they're properly punished,
that's justice.

I hate to tell you, but the
role of the D.A.'s office is,

you have to prosecute.

- Crime is rampant here
and it's a big concern

and people want safety,
and they want law and order.

That's why
they're going with Beth.

- And I just want
to keep our city safe,

businesses safe, blocks safe.

- You better kick his ass.
That's all I gotta say.

[laughter]

- People are really gung ho

for Larry to get in
because they want a change.

- I'll do everything I can.

♪

[phone rings]

- Hi, this is Samantha calling

from the Larry Krasner campaign.

- We are fundamentally
different.

The D.A.'s Office
is not a place

in which a social experiment

should be conducted
at the cost of public safety.

- Let's not kid ourselves what
is a radical social experiment.

Mass incarceration
is a radical social experiment.

Say "yes" if you are ready

to start the end
of mass incarceration.

all: Yes!

reporter: Just moments ago,
Democrat Larry Krasner

defeated
Republican Beth Grossman.

reporter: Larry Krasner

becomes Philadelphia
District Attorney.

Reporter:
Larry Krasner was elected

in a landslide victory.

[cheering]

- They just called it.

- Is it over?

- Congratulations!
- [chuckles]

- Yes, you're the D.A.!
What? Yes!

[laughter]
D.A.!

[overlapping chatter]

- All right, ba, ba, ba,
mandate for a movement.

- Okay, all right.
- All right.

- We got it.
We got it.

Let's just go do it.

- No. No. No. No.

Exactly.

Everybody.

- I'm in!
- Let's do it, baby.

- All right.
- Ha, ha!

It's a [bleep] revolution.

- You want me to say that?

- No, no, no, no, no, no.
[laughter]

[all chanting]
Larry!

[cheering]

[all chanting]
Larry!

[cheering]

[soft music]

♪

- What comes next?

I'm just hoping for the new day.

- This experiment
has to succeed.

♪

- And we gotta do it.

And it's a lot easier
to talk than to do.

- I think it'll be a disaster.

- I expect
a lot of decent people

to put sale signs
on their houses

and leave Philadelphia.

And it just becomes
a lawless city.

Menos: Will the police
and the judges agree

with how he wants to do things?

Or will they do everything
they can to fight against him?

- There are people
who don't want to see him

change anything.

Giampetro: The system
doesn't bend as easy

as some people think it will.

The system will fight back.

McNesby: I seen a comment
that he made yesterday,

"Who are the FOP?"

Once he takes office,
he'll find out who we are.

Because he's not gonna be
able to make any changes there

without going through the FOP.

Jones:
Just stand on your word.

Stand on what
you committed to doing.

And let the chips fall.

So what, you might
not get reelected?

We're never gonna
have this chance again.

- It was really exciting
to hear everybody

chanting and smiling.

- You never know.
- It's amazing, Larry.

- Change is possible.
[chuckles]

- Change is possible.
No joke.

- [chuckles]

♪♪

reporter: Around the country,
voters are electing

a different
kind of district attorney.

reporter: Choosing to go with
the progressive candidate,

signaling major criminal
justice reforms.

Reporter:
Diverting people away

from the criminal justice
system.

Also to hold police
more accountable.

- We have to stop the nonsense
and take back our communities.

Hudson: In the last few years,

you're seeing reform-minded
prosecutors come into office.

Women of color, people of color,

come in to these incredibly
powerful positions.

We have a mass
incarceration problem

that's rooted in racism

and we need
to rethink public safety.

[all chanting]
Decarcerate Chicago.

- There's something
criminally wrong

with the system.

This office no longer
has the community trust.

- The energy is coming
from the ground.

It's coming from the people
who are impacted

by the over-policing
of their communities,

police shootings,
the higher sentencing,

generation after generation
after generation.

And this progressive prosecutor
movement is a response to that.

We are now redefining
what a prosecutor should be.

- Members of the community

no longer have to be
at the mercy

of the justice system.

We are the justice system.

- It's still a small group

compared to the almost
2,500 prosecutors

we have around the country,
but it's happening.

In California, Chicago,
Brooklyn,

Orlando, Florida, Baltimore.

And look at what's happening
in Philadelphia.

The movement is rising.

Change is happening
on a local level.

- [whistles]

[glass clanking]

- Remember, the rule is
if you don't smile

when you see it,
then you toss it.

- Hmm.
I don't see you doing that.

- [chuckles] Okay.

- Most of these
typewriters were my dad's.

Rau: Larry's dad
wrote murder mysteries.

So when Larry became
a criminal defense lawyer,

he was totally into it.

- It's kinda beautiful.

These are some of my dad's
paperbacks

with the sensational covers
of the era.

He has a recurring character,

a detective named Sam Birge
who's kind of scruffy

and a whole lot smarter
than people seem to think.

- Larry's middle name is Sam.

- All right.

- Uh, really busy.

Lot of travel.

- He's talking about emotion.

- [laughs]

[both laugh]

- I didn't understand that.

[both laugh]

- Come on.

Well, doesn't it feel exciting?
'Cause you've been

kind of studying that office
for 30 years and coming home

and saying,
"This is what they should do.

This is what they should do."

I mean,
and now you get to do it.

- I mean, it's exciting.

- Don't shrug it off
like it's no big deal.

It was kind of a landslide.

- You know, that's...
I did not expect that.

- And wasn't based on
how charming you are.

I mean, not that you
didn't... um...

you just laid out...

- What are you trying
to say here?

[both laugh]

- My wife of 28 years said what?

- No, I mean, it was... you were
talking issues is what I mean.

- Yeah,
we were talking about that.

- You're capable
of being charming.

- Thank you, baby.
- [laughs]

- Thank you.

- But occasional
reminders sometimes help.

[laughs]
- Thank you again, baby.

- [laughs]

[horn honks]

[soft music]

♪

- It's time to swear you in.

Raise your right hand.
Are you ready?

- I'm ready.
- I...

- I, Lawrence S. Krasner...

- Do solemnly swear...

- Do solemnly swear...

- That I will discharge
the duties...

- That I will
discharge the duties...

- Of the Office
of the District Attorney

of the city of Philadelphia...

- Of the Office
of the District Attorney

of the city of Philadelphia...

- With fidelity.
- With fidelity.

- Congratulations.

[cheering]

♪

[horn honks]

♪

[elevator dings]

♪

[elevator dings]

- Executive office is this way.

♪

- Look at that.

- Oh, my God, looks amazing.

- I would expect
a little better view.

- It's a good view
if you like roofs.

- [laughs]

- But I think it would be good

at this very preliminary phase

to have people
who share the mission

all over the building
on all different floors

to watch what's going on,
just hearing what's said,

in case people start to

have tire fires and barricades.

That would be bad, wouldn't it?

All right.

We have some important
decisions to make

in the next couple days.

Things that we've discussed
for long time.

[soft upbeat music]

♪

- Naomi!
What's up?

The D.A. was elected to change

the culture of the office.

- Howdy, folks.

- So Larry's bringing in

new people
with different backgrounds;

activists, criminologists,
defense attorneys.

- If you could just
look right there for me.

- It's like we're a bunch of
pirates invading a ship.

- Hi, how are you?

This is monumental.

The initial wave
of the progressive D.A.

♪

- [laughs]

It's insane.
It's crazy.

I think about the criminal
justice reform movement

as the next chapter
of the Civil Rights movement.

It is so exciting
to be a part of it.

♪

- When I was asked

was I interested
in coming from Texas

and doing this job for Larry,
the gut reaction was yes.

It is incredibly important
for the system as a whole

to do a better job.

- Sure.
- Waiting is for suckers,

and I'm not trying
to do that anymore.

We've been waiting collectively
as a society for too long.

- You ready?
Waxman: I did tell Larry

multiple times that there was
no way in hell

that I was coming
into the office.

Like, I was very emphatic.

But it's very difficult
to negotiate with the Larry.

- Yeah?

- So that didn't work out,

exactly.

- [laughs]

This job has
the potential to impact

the entire criminal justice
system from top to bottom.

- This month
is the seventh-year anniversary

of my son's death.

Charles was murdered in a case
of mistaken identity

here in Philadelphia.

And every anniversary
of his death,

I try and do something wonderful

as opposed to being
in the cemetery

and curling up
the fetal possession in my bed.

So for me to be here
to work on victim services

in my son's memory
is awesome for me.

[crowd chattering]

- All right.
[clears throat]

[crowd chattering]

- Thank you all for being here.

I understand that when
you have someone

who has been known
as a defense attorney

and a civil rights attorney,
someone...

many of you have tried cases
against for many years...

I understand that there's
a certain level of uncertainty

and concern that goes with that.

Change is not easy.

It's not easy for anyone,

but sometimes change is good.

And sometimes,
change is necessary.

So yes, you're going to be
hearing some things

that may be
a little bit different

than how things have been done,

but there is no doubt in my mind

that this office can be
and will be the most modern,

the most forward-thinking
District Attorney's Office

in the United States.

You can be part of that.

There's been a lot of
ego-driven people in politics

for a long time

who have done things
that benefited themselves

and their careers
moving forward.

I don't want to run
for anything else.

Nothing.
I'm 56 years old.

I've been
in the system for 30 years.

There's some things
I would like to help change

and then I wanna go
to a beach chair,

and that is exactly
and only what I have in mind.

But that does give me,
and I think us as a team,

the freedom to try to do things

that are really
just about getting it right.

There is no way
that I could possibly do that

without having your talent,

your hard work, your vision,
your agreement on this mission.

There's absolutely no way

that I could do any part
of that without you.

Thank you very much.

[applause]

♪♪

reporter:
A blizzard warning has been

issued in Philadelphia.

6 to 10 inches of snow
are expected.

All city government offices
are closed.

reporter: Philadelphia's
new D.A., Larry Krasner,

is on record as being
against mass incarceration,

but he is apparently okay
with mass firings.

reporter:
Dozens of people employed by

the District Attorney's Office

shown the door today.

reporter: A mass dismissal was
feared since election night.

They just were not quite sure
when that day would come.

reporter:
File boxes just kept rolling

out of the D.A.'s Office.

The purge was underway.

reporter: Dozens turned out
into the cold.

reporter: And let go without
any explanation.

Sax: It was the most
horrific thing.

Dedicated, honest,
hardworking 20- and 10-

and 30-year assistant D.A.s

who were told on a snow day
to come in

and then escorted to their desk

and then escorted out
like criminals.

Many of those firings...
Not all, but many of them,

were absolutely personal
and vindictive.

People who had a case
against Larry Krasner

or in front of his wife,

the Honorable Judge Lisa Rau.

Waxman: We dismissed
all those people on Friday

and we just waited way too long

to have Larry
out there explaining it.

Prabhakaran:
There's a lot of uneasiness.

You know, they called it,
like, "the snow day massacre."

All kinds of nicknames.

- By letting it bleed
over the weekend,

it allowed critics
to define the narrative.

And if I could do it
all over again,

we would've held
a press conference

at the end of the day on Friday.

- I would be happy

to address any questions
that you may have.

- We were elected
based upon certain ideas

and one of the ideas
was that we would bring

about culture change.

And what that means is
you have to see whether

the people who are in the office

are consistent with the mission.

- How did they not fit
the mission?

- For some,
there may be a record

of ethical activity
that is questionable.

For others, there may be
a lack of diligence.

Other may have an ideology
so molded by the past

that it's inconsistent with
going a different direction.

The coach gets to pick the team.

That is not only my opinion,
that's the law.

Harvey:
I'm one of the few survivors

that haven't been fired

or removed
from their supervisory roles.

I have to go to a meeting.
Can I give you this?

That's my daughter.
Okay, I'll call you.

- Bye.

Harvey: I spent most of my
career in the D.A.'s office

in the juvenile unit.

It was very collegiate.
It was very much like

being in a dorm room
in college, right?

Because you're all kind of

here together, you're working
for this common purpose

of helping the citizens
of Philadelphia.

So... but you're also...
It was nice, it's...

you know, you can walk
into anyone's office,

ask, "How do I do this motion?"

You know, "Did you ever have
this problem before?"

"What's this judge like?"

And everyone's always there
to help you.

Now, almost everybody's gone.

And the fact that I was on 18,
I was, like,

"I don't know
3/4 of these people's names."

So that's kind of sad

to someone who's been here
20 years.

[soft music]

♪

- Come on.
You hungry?

[dog whines]

Lee: When I was in law school,

I would never
have been a prosecutor.

Not on my life.

But I made a deliberate choice
to come because this office

doesn't have
a lot of people of color

and this is a place where
people of color should dominate

because we dominate
the courtroom

in every other aspect.

- Oh.
[chuckles]

Come on, lift up that
big old apple head.

Want to try?

Big old apple head.

[baby coos]
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[gasps]

Ooh, it's exciting!

- What's up, buddy?

As a person of color,

I question the law a lot more
because it said at one point,

I was 3/5ths a person

and it said at another point

you're allowed
to tell me not to sit there,

and it says right now,
a police officer can shoot me

and it'll probably be justified.

So as much as I respect the law
and have a duty to uphold it,

it doesn't mean
it's a static thing.

Hey.
Hey.

There's a smile.
- Oh!

Lee: People in privilege say,
"Well, it's the law,"

and I'm like "No, man."
The law has to change.

And the faster it changes,
the better off we'll be.

Winston.
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[baby coos]
- [laughs]

I'd rather do this work

so he can walk around
more comfortable and safe.

I want him to read about racism

and not live through it.

♪

[car horn honks]

♪

- Welcome.
- Hello.

How are you?

- How many days
have you been in now?

- Feels like four years.

- Yeah, time is different
once you get in.

Every day you'll look at,

"This is what I said
during the campaign,

but now, I have to walk it
like I talk it."

And it is difficult.

What I guess
we should be talking about

is what your priorities are
so that we can help.

- This administration
is going to have a progressive,

and frankly, somewhat activist,

approach to
criminal justice reform.

You're gonna see sentencing
practice change substantially.

Bail practices change
substantially.

Charging practices, diversion
practice change substantially.

You're not gonna see
slow, incremental change.

You're going to see quicker,
deeper change going on.

- I think if we chip away
on two big fronts,

the bail population
and reform in probation,

and the way
we treat people on probation,

I think we can make a huge
impact on mass incarceration.

- I'm in.

- We're gonna win
the Super Bowl.

And get rid of cash bail.

- You know what?
- All in the same years.

[laughter]

- All about the Super Bowl.

[soft upbeat music]

♪

Jones: Can I have
a withdrawal slip, please?

Bail money.

We're bailing out three people.

So we'll go post bail
for those three gentlemen

first thing in the morning,

then we go up to the jail

and wait for them to be released

and get them home
with their families.

We bail people out
to kind of shame the system.

Like, why are you
holding poor people?

'Cause you know, the bail
disproportionately impacts

poor people or people of color.

A poor person will sit there
for two years

waiting for the outcome
of his case,

where people
like Harvey Weinstein,

the world is no more safer

because he was able to purchase
his freedom for $1 million.

[soft music]

♪

[keys jingle]

♪

We know that just
sitting in jail

for as little as five days

creates all these kind of
collateral consequence.

People lose their job,

their homes,
sometimes their children.

♪

That's them.

I'm Reuben, man.

Our organization
bailed y'all out.

What we gonna do, we're gonna
throw y'all in the van.

[reverse beeping]

All right, gentlemen.

This has $20 on it
for each of y'all.

Y'all can get home.

Y'all got our contact info.

When you figure out
what you need next

that we can help you with,
hit us up.

- Thank you.

- Before we came out,
they were saying

y'all was outside
waiting for us.

We thought it was a joke.

- Yeah, I ain't know
what they was talking about.

- That was a blessing.

- This will be 31 days today.

If this wouldn't occur,

I didn't know how long
I was gonna sit.

But I know I would've had to
sit another, what, month again

'cause that was
my next court date.

So I mean, that'd been
another 30 on top of the 30

and then probably another 30.

And I couldn't get
my bail paid, so...

- How much was your bail?
- $1,500.

10%, 160.

- My bail was only $500.

- I was sittin' eight months.

- How much was your bail?
- $12,000.

10%, $1,200.
And some change.

My folks ain't...
They ain't got it

to be just throwing
no bail money.

And at the same time
I got arrested, my mom,

she was trying to help
my sister gather some money

together to pay her bills
she missed or whatnot.

But my sister wound up
still getting evicted.

[soft music]

♪

- What do we want?
All: End cash bail!

- When do we want it?
All: Now!

- What do we need?
All: End cash bail!

- When do we need it?
All: Now!

- That's it.

[cheering]

- We gotta understand
that our elected officials

are responsible
for what we want to happen

and that's to end cash bail.

We will not allow anyone
put a price tag on our freedom.

- That's right.

- We've been through
that chapter

in one time in history, and
we will not relive it again.

We cannot.
We cannot.

We want integrity
in our courtrooms,

and we want to be heard.

[cheering]

- What do we want?
All: End cash bail!

- What do we need?
All: End cash bail!

♪

all: End cash bail!

- Make some noise, people!

[cheering]

Krasner: They didn't do
a damn thing in this offis offe

in terms of changing these
policies for 30 effing years.

We're gonna do a phased
rollout of improvement

of bail practices for right now.

Phase one, let's see
what we can do around SAM.

Small amounts of marijuana.

Sex work, retail theft,

and I think we can move
quickly to a bail policy

recommending that there be
no cash bail.

And tell them it's coming.

♪

Lee: We're starting
with a small list

of mainly nonviolent
low-level offensives.

So our top charge is possession

with intent to deliver.

- Yeah, marijuana.
Right here.

- Then DUI,
retail theft, simple assault.

This list of 33 charges

accounts for 51% of all arrests.

- Within the office,
we can make sure

we engage the old guard folks

and have them be
a part of the team.

- We take all those people
who are less than 10,000 bail

and turn them into...

Into releases
where it's appropriate.

- That's a dramatic shift.

♪

- Pennsylvania
is not gonna pass a law

requiring that cash
not be part of bail.

That's never happening.

But what we can do
at the local level

is that the district attorney
can make recommendations

because D.A.s
have a lot of discretion.

- We'll have to nitpick,
because some things

that are low bail,
the public despises.

One example, identity theft.

And that's gonna be
what everybody's talking about.

- Everybody always talks
in these terms

of, like, what the public
thinks or doesn't think.

I'll tell you what
the public's gonna think.

If they see
a lot less people in jail

for dumb stuff, they're gonna
think that's good.

- Bail reform is one of
our big campaign promises

for the first year.
We said we were gonna do it,

we're doing it.
It's super important.

- We have not yet unveiled
a major policy change

that is actually happening
in the courtrooms

and in the system.
This will be the first one.

And because it is the first
one, it will be... big.

[car horn honks]

- We have been working
at the D.A.'s Office

for a couple weeks

on trying to move
in the direction

of a different way
of addressing bail.

We're gonna be asking
for no money bail

on a wide category of cases

that we consider
to be nonserious

where they have been
low amounts of bail in the past

and we're gonna be doing that
in order to avoid

the problem of having people

who are in jail mostly
'cause they're poor.

I realize that there are
probably a lot of people

in this room that,
in a perfect world, I would go

and meet with individually
to go to discuss this,

except we're actually trying
to get things done.

And for those of you
who are affected by it

or would like some input
or you think I'm wrong,

please, call me.

Tell me off.

Give me better ideas.

Let us not stand

on the formality of meetings
in two weeks

because otherwise
we're gonna waste months,

and I don't want to do that.

[banging]

Krasner: I'm not so perfect
at retail politics.

Sitting and having a cup
of coffee with politicians,

there is a good
long-term strategy

to trying to get everybody
you deal with to like you,

but it's at the cost
of doing things

that really matter right away.

I think that, to some extent,

I have had a chip on my
shoulder since I was young.

My dad was disabled
in a significant way.

He was in a wheelchair
for 25 years

and so it was food stamps,

Social Security disability
payments, things like that.

[groans]
There we go.

I saw him treated
with disrespect.

I didn't like it.

I was really not
a fan of bullies.

When I graduated law school,
I told my wife

that I wanted to do civil rights

and I wanted
to represent protesters.

I kind of felt like there was
an obligation to stick up

for people who weren't
being treated fairly.

I did have the sense

of how government
treats powerless people

and how important is
to rein it in.

No longer a crooked oath
around here.

Okay.

[soft upbeat music]

Waxman:
In this kind of environment,

which is a high profile,
intense,

high stakes environment, we're
under tremendous scrutiny.

I'm not trying to give him,

like, say this,
"Blah, blah, blah."

He doesn't like that.

It'll be a very big deal.
Huge.

♪

So press conference is at 3:00.

That's happening.
- Okay.

We haven't finished
the written policies.

- This is critical

because what we are going to
announce today

are these policies
and the first question is,

when you announce something,
is, "Give us the details."

- I mean, look, I can take
the draft back and finish it.

- We're gonna get up and say,
"We're making the changes"?

- Let me see the document
for a second.

- Yeah, I mean,
that's what my concern is,

is that we can't get up and
say, "We're announcing changes,

"but we can't actually
give you the information

about it until
tomorrow morning."

That... we...
- All right,

I mean, there's already issues
that have to be edited here.

Everything is a presumption

and nothing here
is 100% categorical.

Any other explanation of it
will be politically untenable

and the press will eat us alive.

- This is meant to be
the final edit of this policy.

Is that right?
Larry?

Like, this is...

- Yep.
- Okay.

We can do
one of two things, I think.

We can have a press conference
at 3:00 where this document,

in some form,
is provided to the press.

If we are not ready
to do those things,

then we need to postpone
today's press conference.

- Just hold on.
- So...

- Just hold on.

This press event is at 3:00.
- Yes.

- It is 11:15.
- Yeah.

- Why is it that
these two cannot work

on the modifications to the
draft I wrote over the weekend?

Why is it that we cannot have
that ready by 3:00?

I mean, to be blunt,
if you can't, I can.

- We would've worked on this
and thought it out

and had meetings
and done it all if we...

We didn't know
that's what you wanted.

I... until...

- I mean, you gave us this
at 4:00 yesterday.

We're doing the best we can.

Which is not an excuse,
we'll get it done.

- We just didn't understand
that that's what we were

supposed to do,
but now we will do it.

- Okay, if we can get
all that done,

I think that's great.
I just... we can't have

a press conference
with no actual information

about where we're at.
That's my concern.

Made public, like,
that would be crazy.

- I hear you.

- Was there anything else,
quickly?

- It's not "should,"
it should say "much."

- Okay.
- The second paragraph

I didn't find
anything wrong with.

[upbeat music]

♪

- Oof.

♪

[elevator dings]

[elevator dings]

- We will get started
in about five seconds.

♪

- This is imprisonment

for poverty.

And it is simply not fair.

We have identified
certain types of cases

in which we believe that
the District Attorney's Office

should recommend
during the bail process,

to the judge who sets bail,

no money.

No money.

Let us be clear.
This is a movement.

People put us here.
They elected us.

Those are the people
to whom we answer,

and all great changes
come from movements.

[applause]

♪

McNesby: Larry Krasner,
they're painting this guy

this guy as a savior.

Shoplifting, you can't be
arrested for that.

He's legalizing marijuana.

He's just a danger to the city.

man: You're used to
fighting the man.

What's it like being the man?

- It's really fun.

'Cause it's nice to have power
instead of outrage.

♪

Jones: Phase one of bail
reform felt like a victory.

Nobody else in the system
had done anything

other than pay lip service
prior to that.

But that's not the totality
of anything,

because ultimately,
we want to end cash bail.

- You can join in the, uh...

- Larry Krasner.
Right there.

- Yeah.
- Larry.

♪

Krasner: For 30 years,
I beat my head against

the outside of the D.A.'s
office, and I had some wins.

But I didn't get as much good
done in those 30 years

as I can get done on the inside.

When the movement has a chance
on the inside, go with it.

♪

Sax: His change of culture
is to actually destroy

the prosecutor's
office in Philadelphia.

♪

- I'm supposed be
somewhere at 5:15.

- So we're done?
- Well, we can revisit

that tomorrow.
Thank you.

- Really?

- Wiped their F drives.

- Do we know
when they were wiped?

- After October 2017.

- Hmm, that's interesting.

- Yep.
- It was former employees.

Krasner: Anybody who has
dealt with this office knows

that there are secrets.

We need to find out
where the secrets are.

How long do we take to look
for sensitive files

floor by floor,
drawer by drawer?

♪

- All right,
this is all personnel files.

We don't need to worry
about that.

♪

This one's not personnel files.

♪

Oh.

- What is it?

- Files about police officers.

[intense music]

- This guy, yeah.
This guy.

- Yeah, I remember that.

And this one's just labeled
"Damaged Goods."

- You've gotta be kidding me.

- And this is literally just Do
Not Call mailers for officers.

I don't even know
what to do with this.

- Jesus.

♪

- Ooh.

♪

Yow.

♪

- See that one?
- Yeah, I don't know him.

- I do.

Testifies all the time.

Now a detective.

reporter: A list of officers
so troubled, prosecutors

will not call them
to testify about their cases.

Corruption, child sex abuse,
drunk driving, assault,

and that's just a partial list

of what they've been accused of.

- Do you want to
hang out for a minute?

Enjoy the chaos
that's about to erupt.

♪

- Oh, my goodness.

announcer: This season
on "Philly D.A."...

reporter: We have breaking
news at this hour.

reporter: A Philadelphia
police officer has been shot.

- This is a capital case.
It deserves capital punishment.

- Not one cop is gonna tell
you that he's on our team.

- Is there a public safety
crisis in Philadelphia?

- They pulled the gun out
and shot the victim

in the stomach and the head.

This was an assassination.

- We are here to talk
about mass supervision,

the evil twin
of mass incarceration.

man: Having done this
for 30 years,

I don't like someone
telling me what to do.

- I'm on probation until 2027.

Arrest warrant warning.

I don't know
if I'm going back to work

or if I'm gonna
to be going back to jail.

- A Black man has been shot
by a police officer.

- You need to argue this
and we need to prove it.

- My guys don't trust you
as far as they can throw you.

What am I to tell them?

- I suggest you don't shoot
unarmed people in the back.

man: You're the D.A.
Your job is not

just to go after dirty cops.

- The police do their jobs.
Lock everybody up.

And Krasner lets them out.

man: Who was D.A.
when there were

dozens of people shot
over the weekend?

- I was.

- The burden on Larry
is to get people to believe

that this is gonna be better
for all of us.

woman:
We all need to get this man

out of the of
the District Attorney's Office.

Krasner: If you're being told
by people

in law enforcement
that this D.A.'s Office

will not prosecute,
you're being lied to.

announcer: "Philly
D.A." on PBS.