Jan 12, 2021
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans city council member took the oath of office as the city’s new district attorney Monday, facing a pandemic-related backlog of cases and high expectations from criminal justice reform advocates who rallied around him — despite his indictment on federal tax charges.
Jason Williams vowed in his inaugural speech to hold those guilty of serious crimes accountable. But he repeatedly stressed the need — in a city with a high incarceration rate and a high percentage of Black prisoners — to stop seeking jail time for people whose crimes are related to poverty, drug addiction or mental illness.