Boston College Law Review Volume 61 Issue 9 Electronic Supplement Article 9 3-11-2020 Taking a Deeper Dive into Progressive Prosecution: Evaluating the Trend Through the Lens of Geography: Part Two: External Constraints Madison McWithey Boston College Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr Part of the Criminal Procedure Commons, and the Law and Society Commons Recommended Citation Madison McWithey, Taking a Deeper Dive into Progressive Prosecution: Evaluating the Trend Through the Lens of Geography: Part Two: External Constraints, 61 B.C.L. Rev. E.Supp. I.-49 (2020), https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol61/iss9/9 This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. TAKING A DEEPER DIVE INTO PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTION: EVALUATING THE TREND THROUGH THE LENS OF GEOGRAPHY PART TWO: EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS MADISON MCWITHEY* Abstract: “Progressive prosecution” has injected new life into criminal justice reform. This trend, which calls for less punishment, less prosecution of many lower-level crimes, and more diversion programs, has taken hold in large cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, and Houston, as well as in smaller rural dis- tricts. Despite the hype, however, progressive prosecution has its limitations. This article discusses four of those limitations and analyzes their effect on pro- gressive prosecution’s likelihood of success in both urban and rural districts.