Elevating Trust and Legitimacy for Prosecutors Project
Summary
Yale Law School’s Justice Collaboratory has partnered with the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and LaGratta Consulting to develop the Elevating Trust and Legitimacy for Prosecutors Project. Through a multi-phase site selection process, project partners chose the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Saint Paul City Attorney’s Office and Columbus City Attorney’s Office as the project pilot sites to engage in a year-long collaborative assessment, planning, and implementation process of procedural justice practices.
These practices may include witness and defendant interview protocols or guides, community and participant feedback forums, and improved transparency efforts for key decision points like diversion eligibility and pretrial detention. The end goal is to produce increased public trust and legitimacy of prosecutors locally and develop a national model for other prosecutor offices nationally.
Approach
This project utilizes an exploratory and collaborative design. Researchers will build an intervention model based on interviews, and focus groups of staff, participants, and community members. Impact measures will include surveys to assess change in perceptions of trust and legitimacy. Additional impact measures will be identified during the planning process.
Funding
The project is funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Researchers
Emily LaGratta
Principal, LaGratta Consulting
Executive Director of the Justice Collaboratory
Founding Director, The Justice Collaboratory
Senior Research Associate
Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellow
David LaBahn
President & CEO, APA
Marlene Biener
Senior Deputy General Counsel, APA
Sasha Beatty
Deputy General Counsel, APA
Joy Repella
APA Fellow