Philly DA Larry Krasner says his second term will focus on gun violence prevention, not just punishment

Kicking off his second term Monday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said he believed truly addressing the city’s gun violence crisis would require his office not just to focus on prosecuting suspected offenders, but also to lead community-focused efforts that might help prevent shootings in the first place.

During a small inauguration ceremony streamed online and broadcast on WURD radio, Krasner — who easily won reelection in November after campaigning on a reform platform — pledged to continue pushing for broad changes to the city’s criminal justice system. In doing so, he said, his office would not simply rely on traditional prosecution, which he described as “using punishment as the only tool in the toolbox.”

Instead, without offering specifics, Krasner alluded to a forthcoming initiative that he described as an attempt to address the impact gun violence can have on everyone living in affected communities — especially on blocks where shootings for years have been intensely concentrated, many of which also have higher levels of poverty and blight.

An Inquirer analysis last year found that there were 57 city blocks where 10 or more people had been shot since 2015. Krasner referenced that story during his remarks about his office’s plan, saying: “It will be an effort to heal, to address the trauma, to stop the hurt as best we can for the whole block, the whole area. Not just that one family, but everyone who has been so terribly affected by this.”

As the city’s top prosecutor, Krasner oversees an office with more than 300 attorneys responsible for managing tens of thousands of criminal cases per year, making it unclear who might take on such community-focused efforts.

Still, the themes of Krasner’s speech largely paralleled the vision he has long articulated for the office and Philadelphia at large, one in which the city might reduce its reliance on law enforcement and incarceration and instead shift resources toward education, mental health treatment, and jobs programs.

The DA’s remarks, which marked the beginning of his second four-year term, came in the wake of a tumultuous end to his first.

Last month, Krasner apologized after he caused a backlash by saying the city — in the midst of its most violent year ever — was not experiencing a crime crisis. The remarks attracted national attention and some heated criticism, including from former Mayor Michael Nutter.

His office has also been experiencing high levels of attorney turnover for months, with some staff complaining that the resulting environment is chaotic. Krasner has said the office has been taking steps to address concerns, including by installing new managers and developing more training and mentorship opportunities.

Philadelphia ended 2021 with 562 homicides, according to police — the highest annual total on record. More than 2,300 people were either killed or wounded in shootings, also a record.

Krasner choked up several times during his speech, including when he said one attendee at the swearing-in was “a mother who has suffered a terrible loss,” and, later, when he described having to visit a hospital to see an intubated, motionless child (he didn’t explain the circumstances).

But he insisted that the path forward could not simply run through punishment and jail cells, and must include efforts to address the impact shootings have on the community as a whole.

“As we move forward, we have to understand the incredible damage that is done there,” he said. “And we have to do two things. We have to try to stop it, and we have to try to heal it.”