Philly D.A.

America's justice system is shockingly punitive, often driven by proescutors elected for their promises to be "tough on crime." But an increasing number of cities, including Philadelphia, have started to elected liberal D. A.s. This programme profiles Larry Krasner as he tries to reform his city's approach to prosecuting crime. His approach is porttayed by his many enemies as letting the criminals off; but in my opinion, it's both more humane, and likely to be long-term more effective. The series is unquestionanbly partisan; some of Krasner's opponents come accross as monstrous, and no-one is allowed to articulate on camera specific things that Kranser might have done wrong. Even when some long standing prosecutors are fired because they don't fir the new regime, we never learn exactly what their points of disagreement with the boss are. In some ways, the lack of even-handedness weakens the case for what Kranser is doing; but then maybe the old ways were simply indefensible. In any case, it's an important series, given America's continuing racial and economic divisions, and the role that the state plays in defending and re-enforcing them.

When I first started watching, I thought this was a drama. After about 10 minutes, I realised that it was an exceptional real-life documentary about a campaigning new District Attorney and the team of like-minded individuals he builds up around him.

Larry Krasner wins election to the post, then sets out to right the many injustices in the US criminal justice system, as it applies to the citizens of Philadelphia.

As a citizen of the UK, I hadn't previously realised quite how much power a DA's office has in the US. They can have a real influence over which crimes are prosecuted, sentencing and parole policy, as well as holding other institutions to account - especially where the police are concerned.

As the series progresses, we meet some of the outstanding campaigners who join Larry in battle and hear a number of heartbreaking stories and statistics. The number of Phildelphians imprisoned for many years, for trivial incidents (or simply their inability to pay a huge bail bond) is truly shocking. Not surprisingly, this disproportionately affects poor and black citizens.

I'd love to see a follow up on what happened next.

First let me start off by stating that I am a born and raised Philadelphian. This documentary just blew my mind, I watched all eight episodes back to back. I was lied to, finally the truth is exposed. Krasner may be tge best thing to happen to Philadelphia since the Cheesesteak. It's a must see!!!!!

Filmed during the untruth era of Trump, Philly DA is an important documentation of a failing justice system and its glacial reform. Battling and transforming endemic institutional emotionalism, Larry Krasner and his team are shown to be flawed heroes attempting to apply social science to real world decay.

As Episode 1 of "Philly D. A." (2021 release; 8 episodes of about 55 min. Each) opens, it is "January, 2018" and Larry Krasner, a lifelong civil rights and criminal defense lawyer, is being sworn in as Philadelphia's new District Attorney. We sit in on the "First Policy Meeting" of Krasner and his closest advisors, and immediately they are discussing changes that previously would've been unthinkable, so to alleviate the mass incarceration that has been going on for decades. Along the way we are informed that Philly is the most incarcerated big city in the US, which of course is the most incarcerated country in the world. We then go to "April, 2017", where we learn that the previous D. A. has been indicted for corruption and hence it is now an open seat that attracts a lot of interest from across the spectrum. At this point we are 10 min. Into the opening episode...

Couple of comments: this is the latest project from co-directors Ted Passon and Yoni Brook. Going by the initial 2 episodes that I've seen so far, it looks very much like the production team was given unfettered access to Larry Krasner both before but more importantly also after his election. The latter is of course the key to this riveting documentary series. While Episode 1 focuses on the run up to and the immediate aftermath of the election, Episode 2 focuses on how and what Krasner and his team are going about to change the criminal justice system. But I do want to mention a memorable quote from the run up to the election. When the GOP candidate for D. A. says that "this is not a time for a social experiment", Krasner retorts: "The mass incarceration that has been going on for 30 years was a social experiment!". In Episode 2, tensions between the D. A.'s office and the Philadelphia Police Department immediately start running high, including the discovery of a list of "bad cops" which the previous D. A. willingly kept from the public... I can't wait to see how all of this is going to shake out in the remaining episodes.

"Philly D. A." premiered this week on PBS and the initial two episodes are now available on PBS On Demand. New episodes air on Tuesdays at 9 pm Eastern. If you have any interest in criminal justice issues or simply want to see a documentary that is nothing short of riveting and eye-opening on so many levels, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.