Issues

Anthony Parisi speaking with locals in Beacon.

On the Issues

Your Safety & Crime Prevention

Make our communities safer by working smarter and preventing crime before it happens.

Transparency

Transparency is the cornerstone of public trust and ensures accountability.

Keep our Children Safe in their Schools and Daycare Centers

Protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Prioritize Domestic Violence Prevention

Heal those among us who have been traumatized by violence today and create healthy families and communities free of violence tomorrow.

FIGHT HATE

Hate and the crime associated with it tears at the fabric of our society and as District Attorney I will have zero tolerance for them.

Youth and Young Adult Justice

The youth are the future of our nation.

Justice & Equality

We must address past wrongs and ensure justice for all.

Justice & Equality

“We must address past wrongs and ensure justice for all.”

Dutchess County’s District Attorney’s Office has no Conviction Integrity Unit nor even the ability to track sentencing inequities.  “As District Attorney, I will appoint a conviction integrity unit to investigate fact-based wrongful conviction claims involving felony offenses and/or sentencing inequities.”  This unit will work to prevent, identify, and remedy false convictions and/or disproportional sentencing so residents will have more confidence in the Office and the criminal justice system as a whole.

Youth and Young Adult Justice

“The youth are the future of our nation.” 

In our criminal legal system, an 18 year old is an adult, but established science disagrees.  Brains don't fully develop -- and teens and young adults don't consistently make decisions from the rational parts of their brains – until about the age of 25.  Not coincidentally, young people commit most of the crimes the District Attorney prosecutes, by a large margin. 

The challenge is how to best balance the safety of the community, the limited decision-making abilities of some youth, and the permanence of the consequences of convictions and incarceration.  These are nuanced policy discussions that the community deserves to have in a public and informed way.  

As District Attorney, Anthony will enhance the use of restorative justice, shifting young adult outcomes toward non-charging and to alternatives-to-incarceration that can even lead to full dismissals.  “Juvenile and young adult prosecution policies have to be modernized with an emphasis on alternatives or we will just see more of the traumatic consequences that can send them back to jail after they are released.”

FIGHT HATE

“Hate and the crime associated with it tears at the fabric of our society and as District Attorney I will have zero tolerance for them.”

The District Attorney must not look the other way when crimes are committed that reflect discrimination or hate.  As District Attorney, Anthony will appoint a specialized hate crimes prosecutor and develop a policy to provide specialized and informed review of any cases in which hate or prejudice may be a factor.  Anthony will ensure that hate-informed crimes result in charges, public awareness, and opportunities for teaching and community healing.  Anthony will also publish annual hate crime statistics so Dutchess residents can track them and stay better informed. 

Prioritize Domestic Violence Prevention

“Heal those among us who have been traumatized by violence today and create healthy families and communities free of violence tomorrow.”

The District Attorney must ensure that the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence and sexual assaults reflects the seriousness of these crimes if the Office is to build the trust of all who are impacted.  Persons victimized by these crimes will know that their safety matters, and that additional harm will be prevented.  As District Attorney, Anthony will prioritize the investigation and prosecution of all such crimes.

Keep our Children Safe in their Schools and Daycare Centers

“Protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

For the last 20 years, students, educators, and parents have had to adjust to a horrible new reality: increasingly frequent school shootings. This violence has only worsened in the 2021–2022 school year, which had nearly quadruple the average number of gunfire incidents since 2013. From about 49 incidents a school year starting then, it surged to 193.   “We need meaningful actions to keep our schools and surrounding communities safe, actions that address what we have learned about gun violence in America’s schools.” 

As District Attorney Anthony will form a multiagency, cross-program Task Force to address the root causes of school shootings and prevent them before they occur.  

No child, teacher, administrator, school worker or police officer should die or be injured in another school shooting.

Transparency

“Transparency is the cornerstone of public trust and ensures accountability.”

There is so little information available to the public that it’s not possible to hold the District Attorney accountable for most decisions made about cases – which is the core of our criminal legal system.  

“As District Attorney, transparency and accountability to the public will be my top priority. I will work within communities and with advocacy groups to develop metrics that engage the public.  I will invest in residents by holding informed conversations about prosecution policies and priorities.  My office will release the race and gender demographic data that has been long requested by advocacy organizations, including data on referred and charged cases and incarceration rates, and provide transparency about plea offers, convictions, and sentences.”  

Anthony will address and remedy the fact that there are currently no written policies or guidelines detailing the conduct of the District Attorney’s Office. Without meaningful, public policies, unchecked prosecutorial discretion can lead to unequal treatment, rogue prosecutors, confusion for victims and defendants, and the inability of our residents to understand and effectively question what’s happening in our justice system. Anthony will articulate the practices he expects attorneys in the Office to follow, ensuring crime victims are given access to critical services that help them rebuild their lives, that young people are held accountable in a way that protects future life-possibilities, and that people of color are treated fairly. Dutchess County residents deserve transparency from all elected officials – electing Anthony Parisi will finally bring clarity to our criminal justice system.

Your Safety & Crime Prevention 

“Make our communities safer by working smarter and preventing crime before it happens.”

As District Attorney, Anthony will work more effectively with local law enforcement agencies, especially the Sheriff’s Office to help prevent crime.  As part of his strategy, he will implement Intelligence Driven Prosecution (IDP) in the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office.  The IDP model is rooted in a rigorous collection of background information about the people, places, and problems driving crime.  The IDP strategy promotes enhanced information-gathering through close coordination with local law enforcement and robust community outreach. “A technology-centered intelligence collection and analysis of the specific factors driving crime will allow our Office to more effectively and quickly allocate the resources we need to reduce crime throughout the county.  This will allow the District Attorney’s Office along with state and local police agencies to deliver efficient and effective law enforcement.”