Nov1Don’t jail addicts. Overdose prevention sites work, and the US needs to get on board
Today, 200 Americans likely will die from a drug overdose. Most of them will die alone. The government’s modern-day response to our nation’s overdose epidemic has been woefully inadequate. Rather than relying on medical science, our leaders have been influenced by the same misguided approaches that undergirded the “war... Continued
May17My sister’s drug addiction — and what it taught me
My new dog Yoda is a rescue terrier that came to live with my younger sister, Shelley, as a way to celebrate her one-year anniversary of sobriety. Shelley’s gift with animals was remarkable and included toilet training her cat, teaching a dog to sing “Happy Birthday,” and house training... Continued
Jan19King County’s prosecuting attorney: ‘We don’t need the death penalty’
It is time for a frank discussion about the death penalty in Washington state. As chief of staff and then elected leader of the state’s largest prosecuting attorney’s office for the past 27 years, I have had a direct responsibility to administer our state’s death penalty law. I have... Continued
Jul21Prosecutors’ Dilemma: Will Conviction Lead to ‘Life Sentence of Deportation’
The drunken-driving case seemed straightforward, the kind that prosecutors in Seattle convert into a quick guilty plea hundreds of times a year: a swerving car, a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit, a first-time offense that caused no injuries. The only complication was the driver. A 23-year-old... Continued
May19Dan Satterberg Takes a Stand Against Jeff Sessions’ War on Drugs
In a short memo delivered earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed his predecessors’ steps away from mass incarceration by ordering federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense.” While this order applies to all federal prosecutions, the order will particularly affect drug... Continued
Mar24Crackdown on immigrants undermines public safety
PRESIDENT Donald Trump claims that immigrants threaten public safety, and he promises that a massive wall, immigration agency sweeps and deportations will make us safer. From my position as King County prosecutor, I can tell you these actions have the opposite effect for crime victims. Dan Satterberg is King... Continued
Oct14Criminal-justice discussions over dinner with John Legend
THE winds of social change are blowing briskly across this nation and are picking up particular momentum around the reform of our criminal-justice system. The winds blew a message into my email inbox last month, with an offer that I could not refuse. The email from John Legend was... Continued
Feb23Op-Ed: Keeping kids in school is the best crime prevention policy
Many people are surprised when I tell them that we have a Truancy Dropout Prevention Unit in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. “Shouldn’t you be going after the serious criminals instead of kids who skip school?” they ask. The truth is that when it comes to protecting public safety, there... Continued
Nov24KING 5: Prosecutor launching program to keep kids in school
SEATTLE – Seventy-five percent of Washington state prison inmates are high school dropouts. “Being a dropout in the 21st century is not a good idea,” said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. Satterberg says many of them started their troubled legal lives in truancy court. But a new court ruling... Continued
Nov13KING 5: A new approach to truancy
I am a reformed truant. There. I admit it. When I was a kid I hated to go to school. I learned as early as my kindergarten year at North City Elementary how to get out of going to class. The child of divorced parents, I was a latch-key kid who was responsible even... Continued
