Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

Often called "progressive" or "reform" prosecutors, a number of reform-minded prosecutors have been elected recently across the United States-promising a distinctive vision of criminal justice and signaling that their role will be more attuned to issues of race and equity than "law and order." Furthering this vision requires dramatic changes to the working cultures-the norms, practices, and even personnel-of their offices. Diversity plays a major role.

One central challenge is identifying, attracting, and hiring newly minted lawyers who can, over time, be socialized into and sustain a changing organizational culture. This article empirically examines that challenge, which involves two sides of an equation of sorts. That is, the potential fit or link between prosecutors' goals on one side and law students' aspirations on the other.

We argue that although the pool of candidates interested in criminal law has remained relatively small over the past years, reform prosecutors can expand the pool by adopting strategic approaches to encourage minority students to join the prosecution and reaching out to aspiring public defenders. Our empirical findings further suggest that law schools have a more prominent role in the success of criminal justice reforms through the type of students they accept and the experiential learning opportunities they offer.

The article is divided into four substantive sections. It begins by addressing the broad "Why Care?" question and the first side of the equation. It provides an overview of the progressive or reform prosecutor idea, with an emphasis on hiring in the context of changing culture. The next two sections of the article turn to the other question in the title and the student side of the equation. Using a unique set of questions from the 2010 Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE), which ask students about their motivations for attending law school and choosing law as a profession, our first inquiry considers motivations and connections to students' career aspirations; in particular, working as a prosecutor. Most students have a mixture of motivations for attending law school, and only some of these are more conducive to criminal law as an area of legal specialization; even fewer are conducive to working as a prosecutor. Relying on annual LSSSE survey data from 2007-2018, our second of two inquiries focuses on those students specifically interested in criminal law as an area of legal specialization. In effect, the article's third section looks at the size and nature of the pool (which is quite small), with an emphasis on race and gender (important given prosecutors' interest in diversity) along with debt. Our findings suggest that while debt appears not to be a deterrent, students of color (especially African American and Hispanic males) are the least likely to want to work as prosecutors.

The final section of the article explores policy implications of the findings for expanding the pool of potential hires and better managing applicants' expectations. It emphasizes collaborations between prosecutors and law schools, as well as other organizations, and the importance of experiential learning opportunities that connect students with reform prosecutors and the criminal justice system.

Publication Citation

65 How. L.J. 173 (2021).

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