Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano wants to make changes he contends are needed to improve the criminal justice system. In a video posted to social media, Descano outlines three reforms he plans to implement to improve how his office works and takes a hard look at data that may reflect biased or antiquated practices. “Our country — our society — is still writhing in response to recent events. It’s important that we take conspicuous action right now to ensure that real change starts to take hold now,” Descano said in an accompanying release Thursday. “That’s why I’m announcing several immediate steps that I’m taking to institutionalize change in our local criminal justice system.”
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The county’s commonwealth’s attorney’s office will change in structure, which Descano said will bring the values of community into the courtroom, focusing on policy reform, community justice and courtroom strategy. He is also creating a Justice Advisory Council. “The purpose of this organization will be to hear from local voices, discuss the potential for better processes, exchange data, group-think policy ideas and help lead the fight for tangible justice reform. This group will be made up of community representatives from throughout Fairfax County: heads of nonprofits, advocates, activists, faith leaders, business owners and everyday community members will be meeting with me and my office regularly,” Descano said. The final initiative is to hire a director of data. “We will not be an office that makes criminal justice decisions based on gut intuition or preconceived notions,” Descano said. “We will scrutinize the data to better understand our prosecutorial tendencies and ensure that this county’s criminal justice system serves everyone fairly and equally.”
