the need to give defendants access to discovery materials before they enter a plea; and the need to eliminate bail requirements or pretrial detention when they're used to coerce someone into pleading guilty.

Overhauling the justice system will be no easy task — since it could require changes to laws and ethics rules in many U.S. states.

But most stark in the report is research that cites innocent defendants who agree to falsely plead guilty, sometimes on the advice of their own lawyers

Pleas can allow police and government misconduct to go unchecked, because mistakes and misbehavior often only emerge after defense attorneys gain access to witness interviews and other materials, with which they can test the strength of a government case before trial.

A task force that includes prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys and academics cited "substantial evidence" that innocent people are coerced into guilty pleas because of the power prosecutors hold over them, including the prospect of decades-long mandatory minimum sentences.

In any given year, 98% of criminal cases in the federal courts end with a plea bargain

Proponents see two main advantages: One is that police, as generalists, are not trained to respond to every type of domestic or mental health crisis. Having others carry part of the load should free officers up to respond when and where they are really needed, such as violent situations, Travis says.Cherelle Parker, a City Council member in Philadelphia, agrees, saying: “We're not asking police officers to become psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists — we can get those who are experts in those areas to address those issues. When mental and behavioral health is needed, we now have another vehicle that we can use.”

. Murders are actually more prevalent in states where the majority voted for Donald Trump than in those that supported Joe Biden in 2020. A report from the center-left think tank Third Way found that Trump states had a 40 percent higher per capita murder rate in 2020 than Biden states.21

When he took office, Boudin pledged a range of public safety changes, including to prosecute abuses by police more aggressively, not to try juveniles as adults and not prosecute infractions associated with homelessness such as public urination and trespassing. Polls indicate that there is strong voter support to recall Boudin.17

The explosion of gun ownership during the pandemic has not helped matters. Americans bought 4.3 million more guns than usual during the first five months of the pandemic alone, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. The American Medical Association found that there was a 28.4 percent increase in firearm-related deaths, and a 34.3 percent increase in nonfatal gunshot injuries during the first year of the pandemic.14“With COVID in particular, we saw this run on guns, and we do have a greater supply,” says Charles Katz, director of the Arizona State University Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety. “This is not to take away from anyone's constitutional rights, but when you have an increase in guns in society, we're just going to have greater chances for gun-related violence to take place.”

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous social indicators have moved in the wrong direction. Suicides, drug overdoses and traffic fatalities have all increased, while school enrollment has plummeted. Many criminologists also believe the pandemic drove up some categories of crime.The pandemic exacerbated many long-standing societal ills, including social divisions, economic inequality and racism, says Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research & Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “It's not that the whole society fell apart,” he says, “It's just that there are enough people who were already living on the edge, and this pushed them off of it.”Many of the communities that have been hit hardest by increasing crime — often Black and Hispanic communities in major cities — bore not only high rates of unemployment early in the pandemic but also saw a disproportionate number of cases and deaths from COVID-19

Republicans are making crime a central talking point for this November's elections. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released in April found that the GOP had a bigger advantage over Democrats in voter trust on the issue than at any time in the last 32 years.7“It's going to dominate, no doubt, the midterm election cycle this year,” says Nicole D. Porter, senior director of advocacy for the Sentencing Project, which works to reduce mass incarceration. “In 2022, we're seeing an uptick of crime that's going to be reflected in the electoral cycle.”Democrats this year are worried about being seen as soft on crime. Following Floyd's murder, a number of Democrats responded by pushing policies such as eliminating cash bail and limiting the use of force by police.On May 25 — the second anniversary of Floyd's death — President Biden issued an executive order seeking to restrict techniques such as chokeholds, while creating a national registry of officers who have been fired for misconduct. The order did not go as far in terms of holding police accountable as a bill stalled in Congress — or a draft order the administration considered earlier this year.8