By Caleigh Carlisle
ARLINGTON, VA – Actual Justice PAC has revealed an endorsement of Parisa Dehghani-Tafti for her re-election for Commonwealth’s Lawyer of Arlington County and the town of Falls Church, Virginia.
Actual Justice PAC was based in 2017 to help within the elections of “civil rights-minded prosecutors who use the powers of their workplace to cut back mass incarceration, police violence and injustice.” Since its institution, the PAC has endorsed 64 candidates, and 35 had been elected. Actual Justice PAC first endorsed Dehghani-Tafti in 2018.
Since taking workplace in 2019, Dehghani-Tafti, a former public defender, has instituted new insurance policies and applications for the incarcerated.
In keeping with Actual Justice PAC, her accomplishments embrace “ending the prosecution of straightforward possession of marijuana, lowering the jail inhabitants by 30 %, and ending the criminalization of individuals with psychological well being and substance use dysfunction.”
On Dehghani-Tafti’s re-election web site, she wrote “[W]e applied a psychological well being docket that doesn’t require anybody to plead to a felony offense earlier than getting assist. We’ve already had a lot of graduates and this system is over capability.”
Dehghani-Tafti has additionally partnered with the Vera Institute for Justice, a company dedicated to working with native organizations and legislators with a purpose to finish mass incarceration and supply options for its detrimental results.
Dehghani-Tafti has additionally created a conviction assessment unit to research and shield in opposition to false convictions, and pioneered a coverage to cease the usage of peremptory strikes throughout jury alternatives to make “juries really consultant of the group” – Actual Justice PAC notes that is the primary coverage within the U.S. to stop the utilization of peremptory strikes.
The group reported that in Dehghani-Tafti’s jurisdiction, homicides dropped 50 %, a stark distinction to the 30 % improve nationwide, and famous, “In 2021 and for about 16 months, Arlington County and the Metropolis of Falls Church recorded zero homicides.”
As said by Actual Justice PAC, in August 2021, an effort to recall Dehghani-Tafti from her place started. Supporters of the recall believed her insurance policies have made Arlington County much less secure.
In keeping with the Washington Submit, Dehghani-Tafti mentioned the recall effort lacked legitimacy. She wrote, “They couldn’t (and may’t) win on the poll field so try to impose their very own will via a political finish run across the democratic course of.”
Regardless of these recall efforts, Dehghani-Tafti will proceed to run for re-election. The first election will probably be held on June 2.
Actual Justice PAC concluded, “We all know that Parisa will proceed constructing a greater justice system that retains us secure, treats everybody pretty, and displays the values of the group, and we’re motivated to verify she is re-elected.”
