Arresting Development
January 29th, 2007 at 11:56 am
As our latest issue takes a look at Lege fledglings, there is another first-time office holder to watch, the district attorney for Dallas County, Craig Watkins. Dallas County, which was well known for its good-ol’-boy brand of justice, was once one of the least likely places to elect the state’s first African-American county D.A. but a countywide Democratic sweep changed all that.
More important, though, is Watkins’s vocal desire to reform an office tainted by a soaring crime rate, a fake-drug scandal, and the exoneration of 12 convicted men (and counting) after DNA testing proved their innocence. “At the risk of sounding overdone,” said Will Harrell, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, “to me, personally, his election was the most hopeful development on the criminal justice scene in the seven years I’ve been working on this stuff in Texas. He symbolizes a complete rejection of the way things have existed in Dallas, Texas, for generations.”
Watkins is the first district attorney in 20 years to win the job without working his way up through the office. For reformers, this was the great feature of his candidacy, even as his detractors (including the Dallas Morning-News) repeatedly called him too inexperienced. Now, since taking office in January, Watkins speaks often about changing the philosophy toward crime fighting in Dallas, going so far as to fire eight top prosecutors from the old guard.
In particular, Watkins wants a system that focuses on preventing crime instead of one obsessed with conviction rates. While holding the Texas line on major crimes, including support of the death penalty, Watkins has said he wants to do more to keep small-time criminals from reentering the system. He also feels the need to restore the reputation of the district attorney’s office to win back the trust and cooperation of the community.
To that end, he’s already made bold symbolic gestures. At two exoneration hearings, he appeared in person to apologize to the freed prisoners, an unprecedented move for the head of the county’s crime-fighting division.
Obviously, though, Watkins still has a long way to get beyond handshakes, no matter how meaningful, to actual institutional reforms. Still, watching him try to bring real justice to Dallas should be arresting.
January 30th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Watkins to me has already exceeded expectations for his first month. Most importantly, now he needs to make sure the office continues to function properly so he doesn’t suffer some of the same setbacks befalling Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who admittedly inherited big problems but hasn’t moved significantly toward fixing them.
Watkins could even help Valdez by using prosecutorial discretion to clear out some of the low level cases from her dingy, dangerous jail, expanding the number of low-level offenders his office recommends for personal bond.
Before all the shine wears off, Mr. Watkins has the chance during the 80th Legislature, if he takes it, to demonstrate to other Texas counties that electing a Democratic DA would mean a renewed focus on justice. As long as I’ve been going up there the Dallas DA has had a full-time lobbyist at the capitol. I’d like to see Watkins take leadership proposing some substantial Innocence reforms at the Lege - especially with 4 Dallas Dems (3 rookies) on the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. In particular, the Dallas cases show the need for corroborating ALL eyewitnesses who didn’t previously know the suspect, as well as mandating reforms in how police lineups and photo arrays are conducted.
I don’t know Watkins, but I hope he’s up to capitalizing on all the opportunities that lay before him in the near term.
April 4th, 2007 at 10:52 am
[…] General Convention signed up for testimony against the bill. Among the scheduled supporters was Craig Watkins, the district attorney in Dallas County, where the illegal houses are apparently a big problem. […]
April 18th, 2007 at 8:11 am
[…] Project of Texas on Tuesday. Since February, when the Project’s alliance with the new Dallas D.A. made headlines, it’s been down to the dirty work: “forms, databases, a lot of really […]