When Larry Krasner took over the Philadelphia District Attorneyâs Office in 2018 after decades as a civil rights and defense lawyer, he quickly overhauled staffing, set policy goals, and instituted a series of tone-setting mandates.
For instance, when requesting a prison sentence, each prosecutor was told to state in court the estimated cost to taxpayers of the incarceration. But several busy defense lawyers said they never recalled seeing that happen. The times it did, it irked some judges â even drawing a threat to hold an assistant DA in contempt, according to one DAâs Office staffer â so some prosecutors quietly dropped it.