Cool Cleveland Interviews Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Candidates
As a service to the community, Cool Cleveland has invited all five Cuyahoga County Prosecutor candidates to respond to a series of questions prior to the primary election on Tuesday, March 6, 2012. Because no Republican candidates are running, the Democratic candidate with the most votes in the Democratic Primary onTue 3/6 will become the next County Prosecutor. Responses to these questions will be reprinted verbatim, up to the requested limit of 350 words total.
QUESTION 1: (two parts)
On a scale of one to ten, please rate the current prosecutor’s office.
Tim McGinty response: No response
Then, in 350 words, please tell our readers what you would do differently.
Tim McGinty response: The entire criminal justice system in Cuyahoga County, including the Prosecutor’s Office, needs reform, a change in culture, transparency, and accountability. Bad policies have resulted in unnecessary victims and a loss in public confidence. Here is some of what I plan to do to improve the criminal justice system and lead the Prosecutor’s Office to better perform:
1. Create a Public Corruption Unit that protects the citizens of Cuyahoga County from future disgrace and harm from those who would violate the public trust.
2. Restore public confidence in the criminal justice system by serving as a transparent, data-driven, performance-measured, accountable, and fair prosecutor, thereby improving this County’s chance for economic recovery
3. Complete the reforms recommended by the Justice Management Institute and make the County Prosecutor’s Office and this county’s criminal justice system more efficient and effective while improving the quality of the justice delivered. This will include a Central Booking system that will prevent errors like the one that resulted in the erroneous early release of serial killer, Anthony Sowell, who then went out and killed six more women.
4. Create a task force to focus on the foreclosure crisis. Abandoned houses are a blight on our neighborhoods and diminish the value of surrounding houses, and serve as safe havens for criminal behavior.
5. Hire an independent professional agency to review the Prosecutor’s Office and recommend the most efficient organizational structure, appropriate staffing levels, qualifications for the staff in the recommended structure, and the appropriate level of compensation
6. Publish an annual report on the State of the Criminal Justice System in our County.
8. Place new priority on juvenile justice and gun violence. Some of the most important work the Prosecutor’s Office can perform is at this level where the incidents of violence are high – as are the chances of rehabilitation.
9. Expand the County’s crime lab at the Medical Examiner’s office into an independent state-of-the-art regional crime lab to promptly obtain scientific evidence.
Go to mcgintyforprosecutor.com for more details on how we plan to improve the quality of the justice delivered in Cuyahoga County.
2 Responses to “Prosecutor Candidate McGinty Rates The Current Prosecutor’s Office”
Art McKoy
You forgot question #1. Test score = 50% Fail.
terri
If you can’t answer
the first question, I feel no need to read any more.