Manhattan District Attorney Race: Lucy Lang Profile

NEW YORK, NY — Voters in Manhattan will see eight names on the Democratic ballot and one on the Republican when they vote in the June 22 primary election for Manhattan District Attorney.

One of those names will be Lucy Lang, who worked as the director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at CUNY's John Jay College.

She is running to succeed Cyrus Vance Jr., who said in mid-March that he will not seek reelection.

The Manhattan District Attorney's race is not ranked-choice voting.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Lang's responses are below.

Lucy Lang

Age (as of Election Day)

40

Position Sought

Manhattan District Attorney

Party Affiliation

Democratic Party

Neighborhood of residence

Harlem

Family

Scott Asher
Ike Asher
Tessa Asher

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Swarthmore College, 2003
Columbia Law School, 2006

Occupation

Candidate for Manhattan District Attorney

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

I am a lifelong registered Democrat, and have held only nonpartisan appointed positions, including:
Assistant District Attorney, Manhattan District Attorney’s Office 2006-2016 (appointed by DA Robert M. Morgenthau)
Special Counsel for Policy and Projects, Manhattan District Attorney’s office 2016-2018 (appointed by DA Cyrus R. Vance)
Director, Institute for innovation in Prosecution, John Jay College, CUNY 2018-2020 (appointed by John Jay College President Karol Mason)

Campaign website

https://www.votelucylang.com/e...

Why are you seeking elective office?

I’m running for district attorney to realize the full potential of what a district attorney can do - promote the dignity of every New Yorker, uphold racial and gender equity, and prioritize the safety of our communities. The survivors, families, and students I have worked with have taught me that community based solutions and restorative justice are vital to addressing trauma and preserving dignity to make our city safe and healthy, and that the role of the district attorney encompasses much more than prosecution alone. The next Manhattan district attorney must have a broad and deep view of how the system impacts everyone it touches: victims, incarcerated people, their families and children, and the communities in which we all live.
As Manhattan district attorney, I’ll work to end mass incarceration while prioritizing the safety of all New Yorkers, ensure that everyone in the justice system is treated equally, and restore Manhattan communities that have been disproportionately impacted by crime.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Ending mass incarceration.
For far too long, traditional district attorney's offices have been distanced from the communities they impact the most, driven by a reactive and narrow focus on case processing that has harmed New Yorkers and contributed to mass incarceration.

Ending mass incarceration starts with recognizing and repairing past harms committed by the Office, reviewing past convictions for now-decriminalized behavior, and declining to prosecute cases based on conduct that has contributed to the hyper-criminalization of communities of color. It also means instituting a public health approach to public health issues by declining to prosecute substance possession and keeping people with substance misuse or mental health issues out of the criminal legal system in the first place, while connecting them to the services they need.

As the next Manhattan district attorney, I will work with community partners to design a first-of-its-kind restorative justice program that dramatically expands the Office’s restorative justice capacity and broadens the scope of offenses eligible for restorative dispositions. This approach - supported by neuroscience and behavioral research - will reduce the office’s reliance on lengthy prison sentences, while putting the needs of survivors first, and prioritizing individual accountability over mass incarceration.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

As a former Manhattan assistant district attorney and leader of a national criminal justice reform organization, I’m the only candidate who has the experience and vision to lead the Manhattan DA’s office from day one, and deliver on the transformational reforms that New Yorkers are calling on while keeping our communities safe.

I was a lead assistant district attorney responsible for managing complex cases including homicide, domestic violence, and gun crimes, and have extensive experience managing teams of prosecutors, building cases from the ground up, and successfully trying them in Manhattan criminal court.

Every candidate wants to talk about being a progressive prosecutor – but I’ve actually done the work. There’s a reason why more than a dozen of the leading progressive prosecutors from across the country – the people leading the charge on transformative reforms in their communities – have endorsed our campaign. They know what it takes to transform the system, and they know that I’m the candidate who is ready to do it.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

New York acted quickly to save lives in the face of a historic pandemic that devastated communities and cost tens of thousands of lives in New York City. I will forever be grateful for the tireless work of our healthcare workers and first responders who put their lives on the line and worked around the clock to keep New Yorkers safe. However, the pandemic also further exposed underlying inequities in our system that left communities of color and the most vulnerable among us exposed to the virus. In particular, the spread of COVID-19 in New York’s prisons and jails was a nightmare for incarcerated people, corrections staff, and their families. The City’s efforts to stop the spread in prisons and jails were too little too late and exposed the horrific conditions in these facilities.
As Manhattan DA, I would have acted early and taken significant steps to safely reduce incarceration and the prison population, and used the bully pulpit to advocate for the emergency funding and care necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 in prisons.
The pandemic has also left seniors vulnerable to unconscionable scams and frauds that have sought to capitalize on the health crisis. As DA, I will form a multidisciplinary COVID-19 task force to protect seniors from those who seek to use the pandemic to take advantage of them.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

In April, I released a 59-page policy book laying a detailed, actionable map for how I would transform the Manhattan DA’s office. The policy book was developed in close collaboration with community advocates, subject matter experts, and system-impacted people. It includes 27 comprehensive, detailed plans that I will implement to end mass incarceration, prioritize public safety, restore community, and promote accountability as the next Manhattan District Attorney.
I encourage all Manhattan voters to visit my website - www.votelucylang.com - read the plans, and learn more about my candidacy.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

As an assistant district attorney for 12 years and a national criminal justice reform leader, I’ve spent my entire career working with crime survivors, incarcerated people, their families, and communities.
For example, as an assistant DA, I helped restore an entire block in East Harlem, leading a long-term investigation that took down a PCP ring, and worked with the local tenants association to rebuild and reclaim the community for kids and community members. I created a first-of-its kind program for prosecutors to come into prisons and take college classes side-by-side with incarcerated students, so they could better understand and learn from those most impacted by the system. It’s why I have been the leading voice in this race advocating to restore voting rights for the incarcerated --while they are incarcerated --so that the system and those seeking to run it are forced to address and engage people most impacted by it.
The work I did as the leader of a national criminal justice reform organization - the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution - is transforming DA’s offices across the country today, providing them with models for addressing racial justice, trauma-informed prosecution, procedural justice, and police-involved-fatalities.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

"Say thank you."

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

There are candidates in this race who are beholden to Wall Street and there are others who have prioritized the political establishment. That’s not me. I’m focused on the concerns of voters and prioritizing those most impacted by the system - from crime victims, to the formerly incarcerated, their families and Manhattan communities. That’s who I’ve spent my whole career working with and that’s who my campaign is all about.
I hold weekly community conversations at my campaign office, and invite voters to reach out, and stop by anytime to voice their concerns and learn more about why I’m running for Manhattan DA.