“A PROSECUTOR’S VISION FOR A BETTER JUSTICE SYSTEM”
The Ted speech by Adam Foss was anchored within the legal activities in Boston with a focus on the prosecution. Adam Foss is a prosecutor with a different mindset in performing prosecution duties and publicly declares love for the job and the belief in accountability and communal safety. Mr. Foss begins inquiring from the audience on a series of acts that are observed as breaking the law and how many got incarcerated. For instance, Mr. Foss asks how many consumed alcohol before the legal age. Notably, a majority of the audience by a show of hands acknowledges to have committed the crimes, but only a countable figure served jail time for the deeds. Further, Mr. Foss portrays a heartening image of his first court day at the “Rocksberry Division of Boston Municipal court” as an intern fresh from completing his first year in law school. Rocksberry was an impoverished neighborhood in Boston marred by a history of gun violence and drug crimes. Additionally, Boston is primarily inhabited by the African American population. Mr. Foss describes what he saw as an “auditorium of people” who, in turn, stepped forward to plead “not guilty.” Remarkably, a majority of the accused were predominantly people of color (Black and Brown). Conversely, the prosecutors, the judge, and the defense attorneys who were predominantly white made life-altering verdicts of the accused without their input. More so, the prosecutors bear little knowledge on how to assist the community. The experience shifted Adam Foss’s mindset from being a prosecutor out to make money to assist defendants to become better individuals for the safety of the society. According to Adam Foss, some of the alleged crimes were preventable from a stance of common sense, yet when the individuals reached out to the prosecutors for the assistance, they were turned away. Presently, much money is channeled into locking an offender in prison without considering the resourcefulness of the funds in preventing such crimes from happening. One might ask how then is this possible and how will it facilitate positive changes to the criminal justice system in the US.
Illustratively, Adam Foss, an African American prosecutor, employs an example of Christopher an African American and eighteen years old at the time of arrest and awaiting prosecution for a felony. The teenager was a senior in high school and working part-time to raise education fees. The realization by Christopher that he could not reach the target enticed him to steal thirty laptops, which he sold online. Adam Foss was handling Christopher’s case and decided not to arraign but work out a recovery plan for the stolen laptops. The objective was to prevent Christopher from attaining a criminal record that would obstruct him from enrolling in school or getting jobs that are essential in securing a better future. Mr. Foss’s determination yielded positive results as Christopher accounted for the laptops, went on to get scholarships, and finished his education. Six years since the arrest, he was a manager at a large bank in Boston. Assuming Adam Foss chose to arraign Christopher and getting him jail time emulating the white prosecutors during his internship, Christopher could have turned out a hardcore thug, and the society would be unsafe.
Reference
Foss, A. (2016). A prosecutor’s vision for a better justice system. [online] Ted.com. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_foss_a_prosecutor_s_vision_for_a_better_justice_system [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].
(Foss, 2016)