Organizational culture and context in progressive prosecutorial reform: Lessons from Philadelphia

Abstract

Across the country, many District Attorneys have been elected based on progressive platforms. While guidelines exist that center four core pillars around organizational context as essential to reform success—communication, education and training, leadership and staffing, and transparency and accountability—there is limited empirical research documenting organizational processes when implementing reform. This research explores the organizational context of policy implementation in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office (DAO), as rolled out under a prominent figure of the progressive prosecution movement. The study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews (n = 63) with DAO employees conducted during 2021–2022 and relies on rigorous qualitative data analysis, including both deductive and inductive coding. Findings document staff perceptions in the four different domains under investigation. Specifically, the role of policy rollout and opportunities for input emerged as important sub-themes under communication while the nature of training and the role of reassignments were important sub-themes under training and education. Findings related to staffing and leadership underscored the role of firing, hiring and recruitment strategy, as well as organizational structure and leadership style. Lastly, several sub-themes emerged under transparency and accountability, pointing to the divergence between internal and external transparency efforts, inconsistency in metrics, and the important role of the office's research lab. The findings hold implications for understanding how progressive prosecutors can implement policies successfully and promote sustainable change.