The Landscape of Local Prosecutor Elections in the United States
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Authors
Arndt, Maria
Silverthorn, Rachel
Haigh, Cassidy
Issue Date
2025-04-04
Type
Other
Language
en_US
Keywords
Prosecutor elections analysis , Electoral incumbency advantage , Criminal justice accountability
Alternative Title
Abstract
Even though most chief prosecutors in the U.S. are elected, we know very little about prosecutor elections. Given local prosecutors' broad discretionary power and their ability to influence mass incarceration and racial disparities in criminal case outcomes (Arora, 2018; Berdejo, 2018), it is important to obtain a better understanding of prosecutor elections. The limited research in this area finds that elections are uncompetitive (Hessick et al., 2023), casting doubt on the ability of prosecutor elections to lead to accountability and reform. To address this gap in the literature, we are building a national database spanning eight years that includes elected prosecutor demographic information, as well as election and jurisdiction information. Preliminary findings suggest that there are relatively few elections in which incumbent prosecutors are challenged, and incumbents and challengers are similar in terms of race, gender, and political affiliation.
Description
College of Science and Society
Department of Criminal Justice and Human Security
UB Rise 2025