Dave became deeply involved with the criminal justice issues when he began working with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project years ago. Since then, he has provided extensive pro-bono legal services advocating for those most in need, including innocent but wrongfully-convicted individuals serving life without parole. Ultimately, walking men out of jail who had spent decades behind bars for crimes they did not commit. These cruel injustices happen far too frequently in our criminal justice system. Dave feels strongly that we cannot tolerate career politicians who shy away from addressing and offering real solutions to systemic problems.

This is why, as County Executive, Dave will oversee many reforms to our criminal justice system, including the creation of a Conviction Integrity Unit – minimizing the likelihood of an Innocent Person having to spend an entire life behind bars.  He will improve processes for both the accused and victims, and address the profound lack of important resources, like mental health and addiction counselors, underpaid prosecutors & public defenders, and court-appointed lawyers and experts.

Further, Dave will address the abhorrent state of our County Jail. He’s done it before when he took action against the County over the abusive treatment of pregnant inmates, leading to a complete overhaul of the Jail’s policies and procedures in that regard.

Delivering real results to improve our justice system… that’s what Dave has done throughout his career, and that is what he will do as County Executive.