News & Commentary

The majority of people incarcerated in Arizona prisons were prosecuted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and historically the county attorney has great sway over which criminal justice bills become law and which bills get stonewalled.

For the first time since 1996, Pima County will elect a new county attorney. The county attorney holds the most powerful position in the criminal legal system, deciding who goes to prison and for how long.

In August, Pima County voters will choose a new county attorney: one of the most powerful elected positions in Arizona’s criminal legal system. It will be the first time Pima County has a new county attorney in more than two decades.

Problematic even before the pandemic devastated Arizona, participation in 287(g) agreements now carries deadly consequences for people in the jails, employees and people detained alike, as well as surrounding communities.

ICE's failure to decrease the number of people in their facilities has created a crisis akin to a tinderbox, ready to explode.

The ACLU of Arizona will host a virtual roundtable "Confined During a Pandemic: Public Health is Public Safety" featuring state and community leaders.

Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director

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The nationwide call to decarcerate jails and prisons to combat COVID-19 is not a matter of politics, as Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel argued in a recent opinion editorial, but of fact.

The Maricopa County Attorney is the most powerful person in Arizona’s criminal legal system. This elected position sets the policies and procedures that all prosecutors in its office must follow. They decide who goes to prison and for how long.