A new breed of reform-minded prosecutors tells their stories about the challenges and successes of making change from inside the system

Growing up in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing projects, Kim Foxx never anticipated that she would become the chief prosecutor in the country's second-biggest county. When Chesa Boudin was a baby, his parents were arrested and incarcerated. Visiting them in prison for decades helped shape his convictions about what justice does?and doesn't?look like in the United States. Now, along with eleven other reform-minded prosecutors voters put in office throughout the country, they reflect on the task they set for themselves: making change from within.

Using the power of their office, which has traditionally fueled mass incarceration and harsh punishments, this new breed of elected prosecutors has joined the movement to shake up the justice system. In Change from Within, these visionaries describe their journeys to office, what they are doing to change ?business as usual,? the pushback they've experienced, and their thoughts on reforms that are possible working from the inside.

Published in partnership with Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP), drawing from interviews conducted by FJP executive director Miriam Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor, this unprecedented book includes intensely personal first-person profiles of thirteen transformative DAs. Each story is accompanied by an image inspired by the prosecutor and created by a formerly incarcerated artist.

Miriam Aroni Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor, is the executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, a network of newly elected local prosecutors committed to promoting a justice system grounded in fairness, equity, compassion, and fiscal responsibility. The author of Change from Within (The New Press), she lives in Los Angeles, California.

For the first time, prosecutors with an eye toward upending our legal system tell their stories in their own words

Elected prosecutors in our country have enormous power-power they have traditionally used to fuel mass incarceration and lock up people at a rate second to no other nation. That starting point is changing. And if you think prosecutors are unlikely protagonists in the movement to shake up the justice system, think again. A growing group of visionary elected prosecutors has now joined that fight.

Accompanied by portraits by the artists at Mural Arts Philadelphia, Change from Within tells the intimate, first-person stories of thirteen elected prosecutors (DAs) who believe that the criminal legal system is too big, sentences are too harsh, and racial injustice must end. These DAs are in red, blue, and purple states. Some grew up poor. Some had parents who were cops. Some have been arrested or have family behind bars. Some worked as defenders. Some are the descendants of people who were enslaved. Some have loved ones who were murdered.

Roughly one in five people nationwide are now represented by a DA who champions meaningful reform of our justice system. These leaders are an undeniable force and are already having an incredible impact.

Miriam Aroni Krinsky, a former prosecutor and the executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, interviewed these inspiring leaders. Change from Within tells their compelling stories.