Thursday, June 25, 2026 | 11:00 AM
Mother Bethel AME
419 S. 6th St. Philadelphia, PA

On June 16, the PA Supreme Court handed down a decision that will block Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner from pursuing justice on behalf of incarcerated people. The Court ruled 4-3 that the DA’s office (DAO) hadn’t followed proper procedure in its work to overturn wrongful murder convictions and would require oversight from the state attorney general’s office (OAG) for all such cases going forward.

This controversial ruling is unfounded and is an unprecedented overhaul of local legal authority. It will prevent the much-needed righting of wrongs that have plagued Philadelphia since the 1970s.

For decades, the US carceral system has sought to imprison as many low-income people and people of color for as long as possible, brutalizing communities in Philadelphia and other cities. Towards that end, prosecutors convicted thousands of people despite errors or misconduct in the cases they brought—made by them and/or by police officers, defense lawyers, and judges. The resulting unnecessary tragedy and hardship of people trapped in the carceral system for decades, or even for life, has also hurt their loved ones and communities.

In recent years, forward-thinking district attorneys across the country have recognized their responsibility in addressing these harms. They’ve investigated incarcerated people’s claims of innocence, wrongful conviction, and sentencing inequities, and have sought correction when the evidence supports their claims.

But the PA Supreme Court’s recent ruling mandating the OAG review every single CIU case obstructs this progress. It is legislating from the bench, and it blocks DA Larry Krasner’s attempts to return some fairness to the system and thereby promote true public safety—the very thing he was democratically elected to do.

Join us in speaking out against this overreach. Philadelphia’s top litigator should be someone from these streets who is accountable to us, not someone in Harrisburg who doesn’t understand or care about Philadelphia’s long history of injustice.