The decision
Mary Moriarty, serving in her first term as Hennepin County Attorney, announced Wednesday that she had decided not to seek re-election next year. The decision is great news for those who value a consequential criminal justice system – but only if Hennepin County voters have learned from their mistake.
A meaningful change?
Moriarty’s departure doesn’t guarantee any improvement in criminal justice consequences, especially in Hennepin County where voters have shown a propensity to side with the social justice narratives of our day.
Moriarty understands this and has reasoned that someone else holding these views might stand a better chance at moving the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in an even more progressive direction if she stepped aside, taking with her the several controversies that have surrounded her tenure.
She said as much in an interview with the Star Tribune upon announcing her decision. While Moriarty said she had faith that she could win re-election, she also said she believed “another progressive candidate will resonate with voters and keep the office moving in a similar direction.”
Moriarty 2.0 is not what Hennepin County needs and given the overwhelming proportion of crime that occurs in Hennepin County, it’s not what Minnesota needs either.
The change we need
We need a chief prosecutor in our most populated and crime impacted county to be victim centric, not offender centric. The county attorney must recognize the harm that crime has on society and value that over the impact that a consequential criminal justice system has on offenders.
Moriarty, like other activist prosecutors across the county, has undermined the important balance that our adversarial system relies on to achieve justice. When our prosecutors abdicate their role in representing the public interest, and begin advocating on behalf of offenders, the system collapses.
I have written about this problem many times as it has played out repeatedly during Moriarty’s term.
“The criminal justice system works best for all when there is a balance of power. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges must all work ethically to maintain this balance. Each must judiciously use their limited discretion as it was intended.”
When they don’t, as in the case of Moriarty who has consistently made decisions and arguments favoring offenders over victims, the system is thrown out of balance. When our criminal justice system is out of balance, we all suffer.
Removing these imbalances in Hennepin County’s criminal justice system must be paramount in the minds of Hennepin County voters next fall. A county attorney must embrace their role in representing the public interest, and leave representing the offender’s interest to defense counsel (where it rightfully belongs in a properly functioning adversarial system of justice).
