The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys recently released a new report, “The Prosecutor’s Policy Guide: A Roadmap to Innovation.” In the report, the Association recognizes the new challenges facing criminal justice systems and advises that prosecutors accept, adapt, and capitalize on these changes in ways that increase public safety while continuing to “ensure justice.”

The report focuses on the ways prosecutors’ offices should restructure to efficiently share information and collaborate with communities and nontraditional partners. The report also highlights the need for program performance measurements such as cost-effectiveness that go beyond changes in conviction and crime rates. The prosecutors also suggest a model of “community prosecution” that is akin to the highly-regarded model of “community policing.” The report explains that “community prosecution may encompass traditional prosecutorial objectives but engage in nontraditional means of achieving them. These are intangible effects, such as increased community support and communication or increased positive contacts with the community that are quite difficult to measure but essential to reducing crime rates.”