District Attorneys in New York are the chief law enforcer of their respective counties. There is no higher law enforcement job in the state above the county DA's office. The Attorney General in New York does not have the power to pursue crime or other wrongdoing except in cases where the state is a clear power. As such District Attorneys have a great power to bring change.

District Attorneys have complete discretion over who and what they prosecute, subject to the desire to be re-elected. District Attorneys can not be easily impeached nor be sued except in cases of gross malice against an individual that can be proved in court. They can in the words of former Albany DA Sol Greenberg, “prosecute a ham sandwich” or ignore them all together. We saw in the 1960s that in the Southern states, District Attorneys simply wouldn't prosecute white people who injured or killed civil rights workers or African Americans.

Ideology is a key issue in many District Attorney races. Traditionally people have sought conservative District Attorneys that aggressive go after crime, but people have seen the problems that aggressive prosecution of the Rockefeller Drug Laws has had over the years. Albany County two years ago elected a DA largely on that issue. Clinton County elected a District Attorney last year based voter discontent of a district attorney who beliefs on gun rights that was far beyond the right-wing beliefs of the typical Clinton County voter.

District Attorneys also speak with a degree of authority on the criminal justice system others lack. District Attorneys are the ones who always are working with courts, police, and the attorneys of both sides. They see more different issues and challenges that others are not as intimate with. African Americans are disproportionately in the criminal justice system, giving District Attorneys a unique perspective on race relations in our country.

You might be concerned about people like the Albany District Attorney David Soares speaking out. Yet, that is his right and his speech is unlikely to effect street crime much as most criminals don't read the papers. On the other hand, being a District Attorney gives you bold powers to be a voice that can challenge the establishment in both the political realm and in the criminal justice realm.

It is good to see District Attorneys speaking on issues of conscience. We want the highest law enforcement agents of the state to be men of conscience not only acting in their official occupation as described as law, but also in discussing the realities of criminal justice today. David Soares, Bob Morganthau, and Andrew Wylie are three excellent people bringing justice to the people as a whole by doing just this. The model of the activist District Attorney is the future of New York.