05/12/21 05/12/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i rejted a lo te ago the oy purposof crimil justice sysm is tounis >> voters philadehia have chen aew distrt attney. >> shockwaves ross the country. >> i am careerivil rigs laer was oover two 800 convictions byorrupt police

ficers. y: fouyears ago, lgtime vil rits lawyelarry krasner ocked thcity of philelphia bbeinelected dirict attney whilvowing to endass incaeration. thnew pbs ries "phly d.a." gives annside lo at krasr 's attet to erhaul t das office a the broer movement to e cash ve and refm the probatn stem. >>ycle o traa,ain. the fects arerreversie. we jt wanto giv a fair psychi chance to prove ourselves --air seco chance d prove rselves. amy: we ll speako two ofhe crtors of hilly d.," as well a fmerly inrcerated actist who n worksith the philadelph communi bail nd, pl a longte phadelphia journist on krner'record a his fig

stay inffice. he fac a sti priry challenge next week from a former prosecutor who he fired upon taking office. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. in gaza, the deatholl has risen to at least 48 palestinians as israeli forces continued their bombing attack on the besieged territory. at least 14 children have been killed. hundreds have been wounded in the occupied west bank, israeli forces have killed two palestinians including a palestinian teenager who wish i dead during a raid. israel reported six deaths and at least 100 injured in hamas-led strikes. on tuesday, a 13-story residential tower block in gaza collapsed after an israeli air raid but no casualties were reported as residents were able to vacate the building before it was hit.

israeli rockets attacked a nine-story building in gaza early today. this is a resident of gaza city speaking in front of a car that was hit by israeli rocket fire, killing multiple people. >> what should i say? this is a crime. they were civilians. a woman, children, and shop owner. these were people at the scene. we are civilians sleeping in our homes. amy: the deadly attacks come after hundreds of palestinians were injured in jerusalem and the west bank by israeli security forces monday and over the weekend, including during crackdowns at the mosque in jerusalem and over ongoing protests to stop the expulsion of palestinians from the shaikh jurong neighborhood. the international criminal court has said recent violence in the occupied territories may constitute war crimes. on tuesday, the u.s. blocked a

u.n. security council statement calling for a ceasefire. the security council is holding more meetings today. president biden has yet to publicly address the situation. at an increasing number of democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about abuses committed by israel. sitter chris van hollen of maryland said, "evictions at families and east jerusalem would violate international law if the biden administration puts the rule of law and human rights at the heart of its foreign policy. this is not a moment protected statements." -- moment for tepid statements." meanwhile, protests in solidarity with the palestinian people have been taking place across the u.s. and the world. these are two protesters who attended a massive rally here in new york city tuesday. >> i am here in solidarity with the people in palestine who are obviously under a brutal situation from the occupation and the pointless acts of

terrorism perpetrated by the israeli military. >> going above and beyond, harassing. this gathering today among palestinians in solidarity from people -- hispanic, latino, chinese, everybody here in support of the palestinians. the palestinians are not alone by themselves. amy: india has topped 23 million covid-19 cases as the nation reported a record 4200 deaths today, bringing its total official death toll to over a quarter of a million. as india continues to grapple with its devastating second wave, the red cross is warning coronavirus cases are exploding across the world, and in particular, throughout asia and the pacific. the group says the region represents sent out of the 10 countries with the fastest --

seven out of the 10 countries with the fastest rising caseloads. meanwhile, the world health organizations says the indian coronavirus variant has now spread to almost 50 countries, with britain reporting the highest number of cases related to the variant. the u.n. warned tuesdaagainst the crackdown on freedom o speech in algeria after authorities moved to ban demonstrations ahead of parliamentary elections in june. ongoing protests by the hirak movement are seeking end to the entrenched political establishment and ruling military leadership. the protest movement, which led to the resignation of president abdelaziz bouteflika in 2019, resumed earlier this year after taking a break due to the pandemic. >> we want independence. the army must give power to the people. people are tired. it is enough. amy: a french court has thrown out a lawsuit by a french-vietnamese activist against over a dozen companies,

including dow chemical and monsanto, that produced and sold agent orange, which was used b the u.s. military during the vietnam war. the case was brought by tran to nga, herself a victim of agent orange. she vowed to appeal the decision. >> the cause is just because truth is on our side. it is for justice. it is for the truth. it is for people more fortunate than us that we continue on. amy: u.s. warplanes dumped about 18 million gallons of the poisonous chemical during the vietnam war, leaving millions of people with disabilities and illness including cancer, heart and birth defects. back in the united states, the family of andrew brown, jr., a 42-year-old black man shot dead by north carolina sheriff's deputies last month, viewed more footage of his killing tuesday. lawyers for the family say the nearly 20 minutes of tape only

confirmed that brown, who was shot in his car, never threatened the officers, or even made contact with them. this is brown family attorney bakari sellers. >> what we saw on that video was an unjustified killing. what we saw on that video is something we believe also denotes further investigation and does have some criminal liability. amy: in georgia, the three white men indicted in the killing of ahmaud arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was chased down and shot to death while out for a jog last year, have pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges. the men -- retired police officer greg mcmichael, his son travis, and their friend william bryan -- also face numerous charges in georgia, including felony murder. in related news, georgia republican governor brian kemp on monday signed legislation repealing the 1863 citizen's

arrest law that's being used to defend the three men. the law allowed citizens to arrest another person if an alleged crime was being committed. the men who killed arbery claimed without any evidence he had committed a burglary. arizona has become the latest state to pass new voter suppression laws. on tuesday, republican governor doug ducey signed a bill that would remove over 100,000 voters from the state's early mail- in voting list. ducey signed the bill just hours after the state senate passed the new measure. voters who did not cast ballots by mail in two consecutive election cycles will be removed from the early voting list, and no longer automatically receive ballots unless they respond to a notice from county officials. this comes as a republican-ordered recount in the 2020 presidential election continues in arizona, overseen by cyber ninjas, whose ceo has

espoused conspiracy theories claiming the election was stolen from former president trump. in related news, former acting attorney geral jeffrey rosen is expected to tell a congressional committee today that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. lawmakers are investigating the response to the deadly january 6 riot by a trump and republican-incited mob. house republicans are voting today on whether to oust wyoming congressmember liz cheney from her leadership role for her criticisms of former president trump and his lies about election fraud and voting to impeach him earlier this year. on tuesday, cheney addressed her republican colleagues from the house floor. >> today we face a threat to american has never seen before. a former president who provoke a violent attack on this capitol in an effort to still the election has resumed his aggressive effort to convince

americans of the election was stolen from him. he risks inciting further violence. millions of americans have been misled by the former president. the election is over stop that is the rule of law. that is our constitutional process. those who refuse to accept the rulings of our court are at war with the constitution. amy: a federal judge dismissed the national rifle association's bid to declare bankruptcy tuesday, meaning a lawsuit filed last year by new york's attorney general can go ahead. the judge says the group filed in bad faith. the nra was hoping to use bankruptcy as a strategy to evade the potential dissolution of the group by new york officials, who are accusing the nra and its ceo wayne lapierre of financial misconduct. new york attorney general letitia james tweeted -- "the nra does not get to dictate if and where it will awer for

its actions, and our case will continue in new york court. no one is above the law." prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and enhanced hate crime charges for the massacre at three atlanta-area spas in march that killed eight people, six of them asian women. robert aaron long, a white man, was indicted tuesday on murder charges. georgia's hate crimes law was passed last year in the wake of ahmaud arbery's killing. this case will be e first test of the new law. in immigration news, the associated press is reporting thbiden administration is currently detaining over 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children, including toddlers, across more than 200 facilities in two dozen states with little to no oversight. in at least five so-called shelters, over 1000 children are being held in extremely crowded conditions during the pandemic. some of the facilities are run by contractors facing lawsuits

and accusations of physical and sexual abuse. the government is also using about a dozen unlicensed facilities, including former military installations, to hold children. advocates and attorneys are sounding the alarm on the health and safety of the children, who are at times detained without their parents knowing where they are. the number of migrant children detained by the biden administration has more than doubled in the past two months as asylum seekers continue to flee extreme poverty, violence, and the effects of the climate crisis -- all issues that have been exacerbated by u.s. foreign policy in central america, the caribbean, and other regions. and a new study finds nearly 18,000 premature deaths in the united states are caused each year by pollution generated by farms. animal farming is the leading culprit. particulate matter created by gases from manure and animal feed, which can mix with other pollutants in the atmosphere, is

highly irritating to han lungs and accounts for more deaths than pollution from coal power plants. scientists say more sustainable farming practices and reducing our consumption of meat would sharply reduce mortality from agricultural air pollution. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan gonzalez in new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: four years ago, the longtime civil rights attorney larry krasner shocked the political establishment in philadelphia by being elected strict aorney. krner, whoad sued e philelphia pice depament times ding his reer, wa suddenlyhe city's top osecutorfter runng on a platform ving to e mass incarcation. rry krner isow up for reeltion ands fang a rmer procutowho heired in next ek'democrat imary.

krasner's unexcted 201 viory anhis effort to overhaulhe d.a.'s offi is the focuof a newight-pt ries on e pbs prram "indepennt lens." srthis is trailefor the series. >> i have rected a lg ti o the oy purpos of th crimal justi system is to push. >>oters philalphia ve chosen a progrsive as new dirict attney. >> i aa care civil right lawyerhe onlattorneyee a histy of thicity to overrn 800 conctions corruppolice oicers. krasners a ro to nd and bump to hers. >>f this are t workin om t inside,e nd to ing somee from t outside whayou thinke is tryg to aomplish? >> anarc. >>herere more people of color prisoor on pale

th islavery the end o the cil war. >>arrys bringg in criminogist, aivist. >> thiwill bcontroveial. policiethat foc on rehalitationecond chces at thpole. >> we e in phidelphia. there are murds and robberies. >>he d.a.'s office has en tooozy th the fternal der of pice. h corrupto you thk the ty is? there a secrets we nd to fi out whe the secretare. you he to be -- u have be kidding me. thereas noteen osecutioof pole miscduct i this d.'s officfor 30 years. >> right n philllice ficersre suddey waitin downn favor --

>>f you're too crupt toe inourt, y're t corru to policehe stree. lks we want oureighboood ck. >> y try to ke the right decisis. >>n the cle of traum pain. >>hereo mass iarcerati. >> he goingo tell y he is on o tea i sugge you don't shoot r peop in the ck. >> you do't ve t destroy the system to get the results you want. amy: the tiler for the new eight-part independent lens series "philly d.a." the series was created by ted passon, yoni brook, and nicole salazar. ted and nicole join us now. welcome to democracy now! this is an astounding eight part series. ted, can you talk about why you

decided to take on this project? >> sure. thank you again for having us. i have been interested in criminal justice issues for a long time. fferenmembers of my family have been locked up at different times so it was something i was always interested in looking at stuff i heard larry krasner's name for many years. i had never met him. one day a friend called and said, that guy larry krasner is running for district attorney. it was said like, can you believe it? isn't that ridiculous? it felt absurd. never di ixpeche was going in. buthe caaign ielf seem like aeally grt opportuni to talk out throle of e precutor, theole of the distri attorne and assumptis weave alwa made out what it w and now thinki aut what it could be an sometng that s totall diffent. ittarted out as t idea of thisight be srt filabout a stunt campaign

when he actuly won, was likeok, this sry is suenly a lot bier. its now aboutre we ing to be ae to do this stf? is chae poible? whor why hot -- not? it turned into a multipart series. juan: why do you think krasner did when the initial campaign and what his message resonated with philadelphia voters? could you also talk about when he came in office because now you're filming him in terms of the decisions he had to make as soon as he got into office to remake that agency? >> i think the reason that he attracted so much attention in the beginning and ended up bringing out a much larg voter turnout and we had had 20 yea prior, 50,000 more turned out

and prior, i think it shows the effecthiladelphia criminal justice system has been notoriously pitive for ma years. itas justhe deult. i ink a loof peoplin philelphia wted thachange and nted someone t bsaying e things was sayg on the campaignrail butust assud it s neve going thappen. i think people had given up in terms o the election for district aorney and just assumed nobody was ever going to come and speak to the things they wantetoear, sak about form in e wayhey want. iteemed imssle. e factomebody w saying e things hwas ying i think cited a t of people w h gottenut of th processere given up terms of at we're wating them d yeah, ayou see in th series they hi t ground runnin youot the sse from m and everyby in his tm thathey uld n believehey weren e offe so the wergoing to

do as ch as poible. it almt felt le tre w this " are goi to found out soeetter hurry upnd do as mh as we n as qckly a we can in the sers, we foow that and we s how the powerf the district attorney is huge an s attenti discretion. there's a lot i district attorney cano with absolutely no check on that power, but there are limits. we see krasner and his team run up against those limits in the series as well. juan: i would like to bring nicole into the conversation. this week's of zone focuses on juvenile lifers. could you talk about the significance of that issue and what larry krasner has promised when it comes to that? >> sure. this week's episode looks at juvenile lifers which basically has to do with children

incarcerated for crimeacthey committed as children and over the last 20 years or so, we have seen presidents come out of that -- precedents come out of that supreme court, brains of young people not being develed as ults, thr impulscontrol andbilio coider conseqnces is not develop adults. for yea we haveeen the supreme urt moveway from some of the mos pitive nishment includi the dea nalty and up unl recentl the ssibilitof le in ison whout theossibity of pole. phadelphiaas been e leader in t countryn terms of sentcing chiren to life in prison whout pare. pennlvaniand philalphia ecificlyou see in 16 th supremeourt decision that sically id not oy can ildren t longer be sentenced

to le withouthe possility of pare,uthe distrt torne's officescrosshe untry ha to re-stence al of thehildren o had be alread stencedo that ntence. you e slowlyver th yrs, resentcing of ese foer cas. basicay thateans the distct attory's ve to revisit e case lk at wha kind o rehabilation hpen ov the coue of theecades yrs that peon may he beenn is in,nd offer i kw sentce for t judge to acpt orot accep in phidelpa, lar krasn had committed onhe campan trl to sentencing venile fers tless te in prin and some of the sentences you we seein you weayinto factolife prison stences. it w not uommon. betwn the sentees from the ior d.a. a kraer sai

theirentences- we flow in episode ve whi aed las nit the ca of jose chamberlain, who wasentend r the murder of man wh he wa15 yearsld. u see who t coursof the episod josephaving tgo up ainst thparoleoard and make h case the pare board and e d.a.'sffice concerng his ce and eventually h releaserom prison. we ao foll theamily es the paren of the y that h killed. ere vingo grple with e case and deal wi the nsequees ohis relee. am i want goo a clip of "pil d.a." is the role that the new venile senncing reform policy. it begins with e first assistant district attory who

wabrought into the office by d.a. larry krasner. >>ometim it tas to leershipo implemt that vion. weaveeached that int. an onion of cross-seion of lks undethis rooto give alice he- to getolicy do ght. >> sck to since everne mu come heo ma a fferen. >>hat doou thi makes t mo sense? hos dismane some othe dyunction. >> iisad young ople endp god kws whe. >> ts is a m of the differenocatns whe you n be senin thetate of pennlvania. you ght asell be sding some of ese kids tcanada >> suld we u yth were a child? >> i tnk juvile has come rogatory

wheverord you e its ing to bome derotory. we'ot askg for raom ugcreens othe coition of probatnnless ey he bn consered a pblem. >> makg the system aller an lessamagin >> an altnative tdetentn. los of woocriminaling normallbeit wanted adolesceehavio >> cost soon are we going to roll this out? -- how soon are we going to roll is out? amy: nicole salazar, if you could comment on this and the supreme court case and finally the critical issues that you felt you are seeing not only d.a. larry krasner do with the progressive d.a.'s around the country. >> one last thing i should have mentioned previously is last month there was a new decision by the supreme court that

basically was a u-turn from all of those prior cases i was mentioning that were limiting the punitive nature of sentencing for juvenile -- for children convicted as juveniles. while there are 25 states i believe that have outlawed life without the possibility of parole for juveniles, in the other states come that sort of pattern we have been seeing of these cases being resennced, all of that is now open for question. some of those individuals very well might die in prison because of the new case that was ruled 6-3 in the opinion written by brett kavanaugh a few weeks ago. the clip you showed was -- had to do with oth juvenil polici under the office and what we track in this series is not so much the specifics under the pocies putng forward but the tensions between the new guard between krasner's team and

the existing prosecutors in the office. partf what is interesting about trying to track institutional changes understanding even when u have a leadership change like you did in pladelpa thatas quite amaticthis is an offic o 60people. there are 0 attorns. ile krner did fire prosutors wh he camen ofce, therare many pple whareart the exiing syem thawere doi the wor dain and out, lot of details ofheystewere sti in the office we usethe deba and diussionround venile policies to get at what that tension is, how different people coming from different perspectives were sort of forced to work together and not work together and see how that unfolds. amy: we're going to break for a moment and come back to this discussion. nicole salazar and ted passon the cook creators of the pbs series "philly d.a." nicole is also a former producer at democracy now!

when we come back, we will be joined by one of the peach bowl -- one of the people featured in "pilly d.a." became an activist helping people who are arrested to navigate the bail review system. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now, democracynow.org the quarantine report. i am amy goodman with juan nzalez. thfourthpisode o"philly d.a." cuses onrobationnd pale -- wh philadehia d. larrkrasnerefers tas mass pervisio the evitwin o mass iarcerati. e episodtells the oryf tonya mys, a forrly inrceratederson, bomes an activi who hel people

arrestedavigate e bail view sysm. this ip, myeraddressea pesyania state senate hearing on probation refor >> whin the st 18 mohs, i s ae to starschool, art counity colle -i apogize, 'm aittle rvous. i s able tind my vce and come an advate, tbe part of theolution d not th prlem. i tnk when icomes true pration form, yostart wi the cture in atrobation departnt. it is not o that is encouragg. is t emporment. when iot on pbation, all i was to was i had tcome in here weey and rert. i was loed at aseing highisbecause an gorithm. what i accomished that e wod never ange. cle ofrauma an pain. me of e effes can be irreveible. stant to get true fai

second chance to prove ourlves and ild our communities of. thank you. amy:hat is a clip fm "philly d.a." of activist latonymyers testifying. this ianother clip. >>o tohe probaon offic pressions evething. althey knois what ey read on tha paper. got toake a go impressn. she got my lifen her has. i'm inhe wroimpresonshe migh me the wrg decion or e wrong sumptionyou know? in aelationship, canalk ay. u can't walk ay from ts.

it w a coue of dayafter my 12th birthda i ke up at morningnd my m's bfriend to cobet and driv -- courbeand dragd it ready onhe sps. he w out ocontro i ought could prect my mom. pick up inour fresner n and i t him wihe he wen to payphonecalled the police. when i s the cop i thought they wld underand whatas gog on. i was charged wh aggraved asult firs dege. that w the fir time was er in jail.

for thredays, i d not know ere my m was that, io not know iyou knewy familynew where i waat. i wasust ther it was so har finall my lawy pulled to e side aays,ake ts prationtop go bko il to fit this case. i am 2andhat firsfelony from whei was years o is at ( gets brout up timand ti again. the only felony on my record -- that i should not even have. amy: that is linn washington -- that is latonya myers.

she joins us now. she is also the founder of the organization above all odds. still with us is nicole salazar, a director and producer of the pbs series "philly d.a." the figures are absolutely astounding. you have philadelphia as the second-most supervised state under the country after georgia. new york has 12,000 people under probation and parole, six times larger than philadelphia. philadelphia has 40,000 people under probation and parole. your story tells the story of what so many people are going through. if you can take us from those clips to why he became an activist on this issue, why you think it is a critical civil rights issue in this country right now. >> first i will just say thank you so much for lowing me be on this segment today to talk about these issues that impact us so greatly.

we talk about probation and parole, that is a strait line to mass incarceration. the reason i was inspired in being an advoce, i fnd my purpose through my pain. i was rested. i did not know what advocate or activist was until i started to voice -- raise the voices of our concern and there it was a community of organizers, community of people that understood and explained to me this was systematically happening on purpose. so i just wanted to lift up those voices of those that wasn't being heard. people know we are closest to the problem, closest to the solution. no longer allow anyone to tell us we can't and won'change if given the opportunity, nor conform the negative stigma that is attached to us as returning citizens. this work has became my life and

my purpose. to help others. juan: a lot of people are not aware how the parole and probation system works in terms of mass incarceration. in pennsylvania, more than half of the people admitted into the prison system as a result of violations of probation or parole? what has been done to attempt to reform that system? >> so there have been many attempts statewide, bipartisan efforts. i know 1700 early termination petitions have been filed. 85% of them which has been individuals granted early termination. but this is on a case-by-case basis. we need something more robust, or statewide. in philadelphia, a jge can sentence you until you cease to

live on this earth or to be on probation or parole. 20 and 30 plus year sentences. i think that needs to stop. i am happy to hear the efforts the association is doing but particularly the efforts that grassroo organizations and impact people are doing to let individuals know they want to be part of the conversation, we need to be part of the change. we need people to know our narrative of what it is. we just want to be citizens. we want to be heard. we want to be supported and endorsed like anyone else in order to be successful. we nd people supportnd understaing thate just what a partf the amicanream. but has not been american dream, ihas bn the american ghtmare. amy: nicole lazar, a of the filmarry ksnerays one 14 aican-amecan philadelians a under

probation or parol theignificaef wh not onhe d.a.'s idoing but tried toressure judges? hat's a eatuestion. i ink pbationnd parolis on of e areawhere yo reallyee how the d.a. has a lot discretn and powe but so a l of limi on what th can do. one ofhe mainrivers of supervisn is sta law. sentenci laws at are rmulat in such way yet bacalla minimum a maximum you cabe sennced to a fiv to 10 year seence in pennlvania wre iin anoer ste you ght get flafor urennce and maybe some probatioon top othat. it pnsylvanibecause is in the foulation of to xx, if you're released after your minimum of 10 years, will serve the same amount on role so that would be 10 years in prison, 10 years on parole and possibly

pleasant additional probation sentence on top of that. that is baked into pennsylvania lawton something on a local county level in pennsylvania -- local country level if his mind you change. they do have more probation until assigned. they may efforts -- what you see in the film is basically a two-pronged effort of what they're trying to do. one is for cases going forward they're trying to limit overall supervision to pole plus probation to three years for feny casesnd an avagef 18or misdeanor cas. they he a trendous aunt of scretion bause nionay, 95% allriminal ses are resoed tough notiate plse. th basally mea the osecutornd the dense attorneyome totherith th proped sentee they esent the jud. fothe most part, judges will accept those pleas because if they didn't have every case goes to trial, hear this all the time

come the system would literally collapse of thousands of cases coming to the system every year being handled by 60 odd jges phidelphia, if they all went to trial, the system would collapse. there's a lot of pressure for judges to accept the negotiated pleas so that is where the discretionary power comes into play. d we see aot of puback fr the juds in theilm, ey would likon a lar sca visiso manyf the 40,000 peopleho aren probaon or parole in philelphiaho are ing we, like lonya mye wa saying, have em termited really from th probati. he's ere we neecooperation between e judgesnd the d. 's oice and plic defeers office bause what they we hoping to do was look on a broad data scale insanity peopleo we have on probation and how well are they doing? are there people with the signing of a pen where we coul sign t formsnd get a l of

pele off pbation aonce? wh you see is the judiary does n want to ve that quicy. th are still manmarrieto this idea of being a probation pro-pubc safetyeven thou there's lot of compelling edence th sws why ing onrobati can be criminal gen becausef the rdles th a being putor 70o be oprobation andtill intain oer aspec otheir li, job, famy. you e under the film the judiciary is not ready to take this step, not able to do it on a broad scale. there was hope at some point even latonya myers'sase would be includut he orward. think there ne judgeat e time athe end of that episode who sayk, we will d mes early rminatioin termof our iividual lt and th process is still ongoin but it wasn't as robust as thewere hing fo

am latonya, if y can tal about yourwn organizion ainst aldds anwhat yo're hoping tsee righnow? and a pgressi d.a. lely asner whis up fo reelection really does ke a dference philelphia, at does look ke to you wki with soany people oprobatioand paro who ar captured by this syem? >> well, i just nt to say thank yofor th question. think wh nicolbrought a od point all through the epode, herhe judges sayg "wdon'ant th to breathe stem. they' going tbreak th stem." the syemeeds to abolied ordero restor and heal our commity becae iis teari our milies art. i just hope r comnity contins to b engag. ho peopllook at is film and ll be ipired tonow th can advoce, to thei

local represeatives, vocate for themlves in e courtrm. we he to kw weave the power to uplift e vois that makes e impact. weave toepend and undstand were the fce that makeshe power. wean put i in one rson's hand. wean make re our vces are hed an o narratis are correct. we want bringope and healg back tour comnity, not harm i wao sathanyou toll e peoe therwere ablto suort me in t cmunitynd i want oers to support oer ople and i want our ganizati to be ae to suppor peoe to ve the resours, to ha the comnity impacthen peop go in the cotrooms ane, they don't ve to dot alone. we he a commity of pple that c correcthisarrative at is trying keep us further tangled in the system. i st thi- ink the lm

crew and eveone foraving th oprtunity inspi. staytrong, uerstand an -- y are n your rst mistak did it a youan do it. anyuppo i had, want pple to be le to- we have people at lost eir life, lost tir joblost family memrs we are slowly waiting fothe syem to change d be mor compassnate and upliing. they spe 344 milon dolla on iarcerate iividualsn pesylvan for civil violations that th do not even cage thease. if we invest tt into dressing issueaso why peoplea't ma it tohe obation pointmenon tim why it hardorhem find using wh its disiminated

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communitfor peop to allous to be in tsepaces antalk about reurces at we nd th is mostelpful. i want iividualsoe lifted, specifilly people of lor and thegbt community. want the to ow thawe ext. are figing and u are heard and u'reot alo. and you can do thsame thi th i did wh the cmunity suppor let'keep on vic engagemen and inviduals nding thr voic and sting athe table of power, speaking truth to that power. amy: latonya myers, thank you for being with us, formerly incarcerated person who became an activist to support others going through the system. support for nader with the philadelphia community bail fund, founder of the organization above all odds. thank you to nicole salazar, cocreator of the pbs series "philly d.a." when we come back, we look at how larry krasner faces reelection. stay with us.

♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez.

philadelphia district attorney larry krasner is fighting to stay in office. next week he faces a challenge in the democratic primary by carlos vega, former homicide prosecutor who is one of three dozen veteran prosecutors fired by krasner when he took office in 2018. during a debate last week, he criticized krasner's record and blamed him for a spike in shootings and murders in philadelphia. >> we don't need to make a choice between reform and safety. we need both. we deserve both. mr. krasner, a blood on your hands. a young man walking his dog. a six-year-old boy beaten to death. a seven-year-old boy killed on his porch. corporal o'connor, killed in the line of duty. a domestic violence victim shot in front of her house. the young men shot in the mall. just a few of the victims we can directly put on larry krasner. amy: incumbent d.a. larry krasner defended hisirst term

saying he followed through on his promise to reform philadelphia's kernel justice system. >> first of all, let a crisis in shootings with fatal and nonfatal shootings. the truth is we have been nearly 85% conviction rate with those cases, among the highest in five years. comparable to other cities in a favorable way, hi rick -- high rate. we did without cheating. we were dealing with an office when my opponent was there when the tree did not matter. if you can convict someone, you convicted them. it might be the wrong person and they might sit in jumper 25 years. that did not get us anywhere. we have to bring things that work and we have done that. amy: for more, we're joined in philadelphia by investigative journalist linn washington, who has covered the city's criminal justice system for decades, recently wrote a column for whyy headlined "krasner's stance on mumia won't cost him reelection. but it will stain his reputation as a reformer."

still th us is ted passon, co-creator and director and -- of the pbs series d.a. -- "pilly d.a." if you could talk about his opponent, supported by the fop, fraternal order of police. >> i think the endorsement by the fop for the challenger of larry krasner, mr. vega, is very telling. the fop represents the very worst regressive approach the criminal justice system, the very elements that mr. krasner is trying to reform. and here is mr. vega who has claimed he is different, igning himself with the very ideology as well as individuals who have created the problems we

now have under the city of philadelphia where we have a justice system that is not operating in a just manner. the prime ethical mandate for prosecutors is to seek justice, not convictions. this has been a part of pennsylvania case law since 1889 when the pits of any supreme court decision came down that enunciated the role of prosecutors is justice. juan: linn, first of all, greetings. we were former colleagues and years ago. i went to ask you, some people are saying, krasner, crime has risen and violence has risen during his time in office. the reality is across the nation, there have been spikes in crime in many cities. many people, myself included,

believe we are witnessing a lice slowdown that is occurring across the country as police are chafing at the attempts to control the way they need out of use of citizens. i'm wondering your sense of will this stick on krasner that he is responsible for the rise in crime and shootings in philadelphia? >> the reality is, yes, he has been assigned that label an assignment that label falsely. from the day he stepped into office, the fraternal order least in persons like his challenger mr. vega said under larry krasner, crime is going to be off the charts. reform will make people and say. not true. as you indicated, crime has gone up across the country. as crime has gone up, there is been a decrease in policing.

in philadelphia, the vast majority of the crimes, in particular homicides, are unsolved. if the police are not making any arrests, and prosecutors can't prosecute the cases. so it is intellectually improper to say you're not prosecuting homicide cases when inact the policere not bringing the cases to them. accordg to mrkrasner,he cas broughto himre fraht with lacof evince. if ksner is trng to do someing different from what was the policy and practice and pracce in the office for decades where ey would just go inrrespecte up in crew goodies and edence -- incoruities evidenc that woul put people iprison, at is their job -that iwrong and thats whatarry krasn has en fightg agast yete has been,uiterankly, tarre

but t only t fop, bu consertive policians a even ding his me inffice the then.s. attoey in philadph was verritica ofhe refms. this is person o is the chie enforceme offic for the fedel governmtshould nohave bn taken kind of posture y you he to derstandhe ctext. heasith the umpet adminiration. whe the prident oply endoed reality ithe namef law and order. juan: i wanted to ask you better criticism you have had of krasner, hisandling of the weave ujamaa case, arguably the most -- we illusion mall, arguing the most famous prisoner worldwide and you conducted more than 10 years ago a ballistics test and i think ted passon film

th in rms raising questionabout wh hpened with thevidence the mum abu-jal case. can you lk about the critici ofrasner a his faire to t on ts case? >> the cumn laidut that . krner has done wh his edecsors havnot done and at is seek justice, thus he is reversed the convictions of about 20 people so far. there is a vast number mark should be but you have to give him credit for what he did. and each of those instances, there have been very clear and compellingvidence of mionduct n only by police in inial iestigati but osecuts in h many stans the perseted the cases. how does that ply to the abu-jal case? the evence thaled ksner's ofce to seek reveal of

convictis for peoplso far, commeably, is far less than the evidence of misconduct by police prosecutors and judges in the abuja mall case. if you are a reformer, as krasner is, then it is easy to take on certain cases but the real dividing line is when you take on the hard case. reality, there is any institutional bias against abu-jamal that goes from the police officers on the beat and it philadelphia all the way up through the justices on the supreme court of the united states. so that was the essence of the column that when you look at the evidence that is supposedly underlined abuja mall's conviction, see gross errors in there and you don't need a law degree or a phd to see those.

one of which is what you just mentioned, the protest we did. according to prosecution, abu-jamal straddled the officer who was convicted of shooting, only hitting the officer once. if in fact it happened that way, then he was the bullet marks in the sidewalk and all of the crime scene photos that were produced in court, there were no bullet mks. we took those crime scene photossent theto a person in the t propsion labatory whose b is to enhce photos omeep spaclike satn and uranusay out ithe sola syem, that pson anazed thesphotos with a surcomputeand fnd no bulletarks. if there is no bullet mar from the scenario ofbuja ml's shooting those bullets, then that is exhibit a of the heirs in that case most of amy: we

have to leave it there. i want to thank you so much for being with us and also ted passon and nicole salazar, directors and producers, cocreator's of the pbs series "pilly d.a." it is airing n

. welcome back. thank you for joining us again on nhk "newsline." japan is stepping up efforts to contain a rise in coronavirus infections by expanding and extending its first state of emergency of the pandemic. distribut stricter virus measures have been in place since late april. as of wednesday, the emergency de