Hi and welcome back to Undisclosed. My name is Robi Achadri. I'm an attorney and author. I'm here with my

colleague Colin Miller. Hi, this is Colin Miller. I'm a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law,

and I blog at evidence for a blog blog. The launch of cereal back in 2014 sent my world into a tailspin in so many ways. I completely

changed my career from national security policy and advocacy to innocence work. I became a

podcaster and a published author. And I did so much public speaking that the list of universities,

law schools, law firms, bar events, annual company events,

conventions, conferences, fundraisers, gala, book clubs, and literary festivals where I have spoken goes on for pages. I have delivered dozens and dozens of keynotes, commencement speeches,

fireside chats, and panel discussions in the past decades on a variety of subjects, but mostly about my career

in civil rights advocacy, my books, and, of course, about criminal justice and this case.

And the one question that I have gotten repeatedly, almost without fail, at these many speaking

events, is this. How do we, how do I as an individual, change the system? It's a question that comes from a

place of deep frustration and helplessness in the face of a criminal justice system that is an

absolute behemoth, a system that's broken in so many places that it feels overwhelming,

impossible even to fix it. And my response to this question is always the same. If there's one single

thing you can do to have the most impact on the system, one thing that's absolutely in the

ability of every single person to do, it's to elect the right local prosecutor. The head of the

local prosecutor's office, that district attorney or state's attorney, has more power than anyone else in the system to make broad changes in an efficient manner.

That DA or essay sets the culture and priorities for his or her office.

They decide if and how to charge nonviolent drug offenses.

They decide how harsh or lenient to be with sentences they pursue. They investigate

internal wrongdoing or they turn a blind eye to it. They can fix the mistakes of the past or they

can dig in their heels despite new evidence showing an innocent defendant is incarcerated.

...