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“A district attorney is for all the people, so I want to be a unifier of political division,” says First Assistant District Attorney of Monroe County, Pennsylvania, who returns to Cuckoo 4 Politics to talk more about the issues facing his district and how he plans to solve them when he is, hopefully, elected District Attorney. Mike himself has been on both sides of the political divide–a divide host Michael Desrosiers believes continues to be further drawn by Republicans who insist on maintaining traditions and laws which tend to favor white men. After many years as a registered Republican, Mike Mancuso is running for office as a Democrat. He explains what inspired this change, including the democratic policies that he felt would be most effective in solving the district’s most pressing issues.
As is the case in most of America, gun violence and drug use are becoming shockingly commonplace in Monroe County. Yet, as Michael Desrosiers points out, Republicans took a hard “lock them up” stance when drug use was relegated to the Black community. Only when drugs began affecting white communities did the conversation begin to revolve around treatment. Our host asks the First Assistant DA what changes he would like to see made to the criminal justice system and his thoughts on gun crime and gun control. Mike Mancuso describes Monroe County’s crisis involving juvenile criminals including the lack of facilities to keep the most dangerous among them away from the public.
By joining today’s conversation, you are likely to recognize at least one issue that you are facing in your own community. As the profile of both Republicans and Democrats continues to change and evolve with the times, so must policies in order to be effective.
Quotes:
“I always look at the individual issues and character and merit of the candidate. That's how I run.” (9:55 | Mike Mancuso)
“When I became full time, as first assistant DA in 2016, I started seeing things that were troubling about the repetitive nature of certain types of crimes and issues. I was advocating for positions that I felt were very democratic and spirit that were very proactive.” (11:27 | Mike Mancuso)
“It seems like the Republican platform on criminal justice was law and order. And to me, that could be interpreted as maintaining the status quo, no type of change. If there's a drug addiction, or someone's caught with drugs, you put them in jail, and then solve it. Where the Democratic principles–not saying they're not for law and order–but they’re for justice, for fairness.” (18:18 | Michael Desrosiers )
“Right now, Monroe County has a crisis, in that we do not have ready access to secure detention facilities for the handful–less than six or so a year–of juvenile offenders. And that's also a problem in our region as a whole. There's a total lack of juvenile detention centers and so we've had very troubling cases where dangerous kids were let out.” (42:19 | Mike Mancuso)
“I understand people clinging to traditions, I understand values like hard work and individual accountability. And I think all of that is compatible with effective reforms that are based on the data. I mean, we can't just be running the country based on opinion polls, but where those opinions are based, in fact, and, and have data behind them, they should be embraced and they should be utilized to make our country a better place.” (50:04 | Mike Mancuso)
Links
Connect with Mike Mancuso:
https://www.instagram.com/cuckoo_4_politics/
https://www.facebook.com/Cuckoo-4-Politics-104093938102793
