Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
ORCID (Links to author’s additional scholarship at ORCID.org)
Victoria Smiegocki: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6897-5283
Pamela R. Metzger: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5582-4953
Abstract
During his 2018 campaign to become Dallas County District Attorney, John Creuzot promised to decline prosecution of low-level marijuana misdemeanors. After his election, District Attorney Creuzot (DA Creuzot) honored this campaign promise, issuing policies designed to radically reduce misdemeanor marijuana prosecutions. Analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, the authors describe police enforcement changes associated with the Dallas County District Attorney's Office's (DAO) marijuana prosecution policies. The authors also explore how the DAO's Intake Unit successfully implemented and enforced these marijuana prosecution policies.
The authors show that DA Creuzot's policies were associated with a significant decrease in marijuana misdemeanor arrests and an even greater decline in marijuana misdemeanor prosecutions. However, the DA's non-prosecution policies were not associated with a similar reduction in racial disparity among the marijuana misdemeanor arrests that the police referred for prosecution. Some police departments showed increased racial disparity among marijuana arrests and referrals. Other departments almost eliminated those disparities, but those dramatic decreases coincided with a virtual cessation of marijuana misdemeanor enforcement. This article concludes by situating DA Creuzot's policy within the national landscape of prosecutorial reform. The authors explain how progressive prosecutors must navigate legislative attempts to control prosecutorial discretion.
Publication Title
Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law
Document Type
Article
Keywords
Misdemeanors, marijuana, Dallas County, Prosecution, Criminal procedure, Race, Empirical legal studies, Race discrimination
Recommended Citation
Victoria M. Smiegocki, Shem Vinton & Pamela R. Metzger, The Difference a DA Makes, 21 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 331 (Spring 2024)
