Welcome

Join the West Virginia Criminal Law Coalition for an exclusive screening of the first episode of the new docuseries "Philly DA" ahead of its premiere. The post-film panel and Q&A will include criminal justice experts and advocates, Valena Beety, Kenneth Matthews, and Lonnie Simmons and will be moderated by Quenton King (WV Center on Budget and Policy).

About the series

A groundbreaking documentary series embedded inside the long shot election and tumultuous first term of Larry Krasner, Philadelphia's unapologetic District Attorney, and his experiment to upend the criminal justice system from the inside out.

Synopsis:

In 2017, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had one of the highest incarceration rates of any major city in the United States. And it has become the epicenter of a historic experiment that could shape the future of prosecution in America for decades to come. When civil rights attorney Larry Krasner mounted a long shot campaign to become District Attorney, he ran on a bold pledge: to end mass incarceration by changing the culture of the criminal justice system from within. He shocked the establishment by winning in a landslide.

Now, the bureaucrats he spent his campaign denigrating are his co-workers; the police he alienated are his rank-and-file law enforcers. Pressure comes from all sides of a system resistant to reform. Krasner’s unapologetic promise to use the power of the D.A.’s office for sweeping change is what got him elected; now that he’s in office, that same stubbornness threatens to alienate those he needs to work with the most.

From the eye of this political storm, filmmakers Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, and Nicole Salazar gained unprecedented access into Krasner’s office and behind the scenes of the criminal justice system. Over the course of eight episodes, Philly D.A. explores the most pressing social issues of our time—police brutality, the opioid crisis, gun violence, and mass incarceration—through the lens of an idealistic team attempting fundamental overhaul from within the system.

Screening Partners:

American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia

American Friends Service Committee

Appalachian Prison Book Project

Jefferson County NAACP

Mountain State Justice

West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy

West Virginia Council of Churches

WV Criminal Law Reform Coalition: wvprisonreform.org/

West Virginia Family of Convicted People

West Virginia Innocence Project

West Virginia Public Broadcasting

West Virginia Reentry Councils