By Tom Pappert | Tennessee Star
State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) issued a formal request on Tuesday to obtain agreements between Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s Office and three “restorative justice organizations” with the Tennessee District Attorneys Conference (TDAC). Taylor highlighted Mulroy’s agreements with three groups seeking to eliminate bail or decrease the number of his office’s prosecutions.
Taylor (pictured above, right) charged that “Memphians have a right to know if the agreements between the DA’s office and these outside groups are inconsistent with state laws and policies” in a press release and stressed that Mulroy’s “job is to further his prosecutorial duties, not embark on a restorative justice campaign.”
In his letter, obtained by The Tennessee Star, the lawmaker highlighted Mulroy’s agreements with Justice Innovation Lab, which seeks to lower the number of criminals prosecuted, the Vera Institute, and Just City, which both seek to eliminate bail.
Taylor included a series of documents justifying his concerns, beginning with Mulroy’s February 15 press release, which unveiled “Shelby County’s new bail process” that includes an “examination of a person’s financial circumstances prior to a bond decision using the Vera Institute’s ‘Ability to Pay’ calculator.”
The Vera Institute’s description of its bail calculator was also included by Taylor, revealing the group claims the calculator will “help ensure that bail is less burdensome and punitive on the path to eliminating bail entirely.” The document quotes another one of the group’s directors, who explained the organization is explicitly fighting “for the end of money bail entirely.”
Taylor also included Mulroy’s March 14 press release, which revealed his office was partnering with the Vera Institute to “assist each office with implementing reforms and building evidence that alternative approaches can be a better path to safety than incarceration.” Mulroy’s press release quoted Akhi Johnson, one of the Vera Institute’s directors, who claimed in a statement, “Prosecutors have the discretion and responsibility to explore new approaches” for public safety, and asserted that “too many people are incarcerated and confined inside U.S. jails and prisons.”
Similarly included by Taylor was a March 7 press release explaining Mulroy’s office entered into a “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with national reform group Justice Innovation Lab.” Mulroy (pictured above, left) revealed the group would be paid with “privately raised funds” to “’embed’ within the DA’s Office for 12-18 months, reviewing the office’s data and interview staff” with the goal of designing a “public-facing ‘data dashboard’” to increase transparency.
The Justice Innovation Lab states on its website that it seeks to “reduce harmful outcomes, including over-incarceration and unjust racial and economic disparities” in the criminal justice system.
Mulroy publicly announced on October 31 that his office partnered with Just City to waive court fees for many criminal defendants. That group, which started the Memphis Community Bail Fund in 2020, calls to “abolish bail at the state level,” according to a document Taylor provided.
In his letter, Taylor called it “disturbing to witness” Mulroy “partner with outside organizations whose stated mission is to reform our criminal justice system in a way that conflicts with the goals of the General Assembly as shown through its laws and policies.” He charged that Mulroy’s partnerships undermines both the General Assembly’s authority and “the will of Tennesseans through their elected officials,” while also making Tennessee “significantly more dangerous.”
He requested TDAC, a statewide body consisting of 32 district attorneys, review the documents he provided to “determine if they are consistent with our state laws, policies, and directives,” and charged that “public welfare demands we know whether the people’s will, as enacted by the legislature, is being subverted by the purpose of this office.”
