Larry Krasner

He was elected Philadelphia’s district attorney in 2017, receiving more than $2 million in campaign contributions from George Soros during the election.² After taking office, Krasner made major changes to the Philadelphia DA’s office, firing 31 staff within a week of taking office, which included many senior staff.³ During Krasner’s tenure, Philadelphia’s murder rate per capita increased to become the highest murder rate per capita of the country’s ten largest cities in 2021.⁴

Early Life and Education

Lawrence S. Krasner was born in 1961 in St. Louis, MI. His father was a World War 2 veteran and a freelance writer, and his mother was an evangelical preacher. Krasner has three brothers.¹ At 8 years old, he and his family moved to the suburbs outside Philadelphia, PA. Krasner attended public schools while living in St. Louis and Philadelphia, and he later attended the University of Chicago for his bachelor’s degree, graduating in 1983.⁵

After graduating from the University of Chicago, Krasner worked as a carpenter in Philadelphia. During this time, Krasner was a juror on a murder trial, which he later said in an interview with The New Yorker was his primary inspiration to attend law school.¹ Krasner graduated from Stanford Law School in 1987, and moved back to Philadelphia to work as a federal public defender.⁶

Early Career

Krasner served as a federal public defender in Philadelphia for about six years before opening his own law firm, Krasner & Long, LLC, in 1993, where he primarily focused on civil rights.⁷ In 1990, Krasner was appointed to a committee by Philadelphia mayor W. Wilson Goode investigating an incident between Philadelphia police and AIDs activists in front of the Bellevue hotel. He was also part of a group of lawyers who represented 400 protestors that were arrested at the 2000 Republican National Convention, and he represented former Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy after an incident involving an off-duty police officer at a nightclub in February 2016.⁸

Krasner became famous for representing activists and alleged victims of police brutality. During his career, Krasner sued the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times over alleged police misconduct.⁹ Krasner represented protestors at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, and has represented activists affiliated with left-wing groups including Black Lives Matter, ACT UP, DACA Dreamers, Casino-Free Philadelphia, Decarcerate PA, Reclaim Philadelphia, Occupy Philly, Earth Quaker Action Team, Heeding God’s Call, and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.⁶

Philadelphia District Attorney

In 2017, Krasner announced his candidacy for Philadelphia District Attorney.⁷ Krasner ran on a platform of reducing incarceration, ending cash bail, and opposing the Trump administration’s immigration policy.⁹ Throughout the campaign, he received the support of numerous left-progressive activist organizations, many of whom he had previously represented.¹⁰ Krasner’s campaign also received nearly $1.7 million in outside spending from George Soros, which accounted for nearly 30% of all spending in the primary election.¹¹

Policies

Just three days after taking office, Krasner fired 31 prosecutors, including multiple prosecutors in the homicide unit. Many of the terminated staff had worked in the Philadelphia DA’s office for decades.³ Prior to his election, Krasner had promised to dramatically change the culture of the DA’s office, saying some people “are going to be made to leave because you cannot bring about real change and leave people in place who are going to fight change every step of the way.”¹² Krasner also stated that these departures would allow for “greater diversity” since many of the departures would be people who “tend to be white and male.”¹²

Krasner began a new training program for new assistant district attorneys to teach principles of progressive prosecution. For this program, Krasner hired Prosecution Impact, an organization headed by Adam Foss, who became well-known after giving a TED Talk about progressive prosecution in 2016 and advocates for diversion programs. One former assistant district described the training as a “cross between a graduate seminar and a religious retreat.”¹³ The training also did not provide sufficient guidance on proper charging, as the former ADA went on to say:

Foss had instructed us to do with our cases what we wished, even going so far as suggesting we evade or disregard supervisor oversight. Foss’s suggestion misled some members of my class into believing they had authority to unilaterally withdraw felony charges in their first few weeks in the courtroom. And this poor training was not limited to new hires. Attorneys at all levels complained about lack of training.¹³

Krasner also made changes to charging policies. In February 2018, Krasner released a memo which said his office would no longer charge individuals with marijuana possession or prostitution if an individual had two or fewer convictions for prostitution.¹⁴ The memo also ordered prosecutors to make plea offers below the bottom of the range given in the Pennsylvania Sentencing Guidelines.¹⁴ Finally, the memo directed all prosecutors to calculate the total cost of incarceration for an individual and then state it in court while explaining why this sentence was necessary.¹⁵

Effects

During Krasner’s tenure as DA, homicides in Philadelphia spiked dramatically. In 2021, Philadelphia had the highest murder rate per capita among the ten largest cities in the United States, recording 562 homicides.¹⁶¹⁷ The trend continued into 2022, with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw saying her officers “can’t keep up.”¹⁸ Philadelphia police have quit in record numbers since 2018, with one officer telling Philadelphia Weekly that “Krasner puts more effort into arresting cops than into getting illegal firearms off the street.”¹⁹

2021 Reelection

Despite criticism from some Philadelphia officials, Krasner was reelected in 2021 by a wide margin, beating Republican nominee Charles Peruto.²⁰ Krasner received $259,000 from George Soros for his reelection campaign, and an analysis by Philadelphia Magazine showed only 28% of campaign contributions to Krasner came from people living in Philadelphia, with two contributions coming from Doha, Qatar.²¹²²

2022 Impeachment Proceedings

Pennsylvania House Republicans began impeachment proceedings against Krasner in June 2022, citing the increase in homicides and gun violence since Krasner took office.²³ Several PA House Republicans published an op-ed in the conservative outlet National Review calling Krasner a “pro-criminal district attorney who puts more effort into putting offenders back on the streets than in enforcing Pennsylvania’s tough-on-crime laws.”²⁴