Programs & Resources · Procedural Justice
Elevating Trust and Legitimacy for Prosecutors (ETL) Project
Prosecutors’ offices are being asked to solve increasingly complex problems while managing high caseloads, limited resources, and heightened public expectations. At the same time, many of the challenges prosecutors face are affected by trust and relationships: whether victims and witnesses remain engaged, whether law enforcement and community partners communicate effectively, whether employees feel heard and supported, and whether the public understands and trusts prosecutorial decision-making.
About the project
The Elevating Trust and Legitimacy for Prosecutors (ETL) Project helps prosecutors examine those challenges through a practical, evidence-informed framework based on procedural justice. Led by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Yale Law School’s Justice Collaboratory, and LaGratta Consulting, ETL has worked with seven prosecution offices since 2021 to examine how the principles of voice, neutrality, respect, and trustworthiness can be incorporated into everyday prosecutorial practice.
As part of the project, prosecutors and other staff across the participating offices were surveyed to better understand how employees viewed fairness, communication, trust, and decision-making within their offices and in their interactions with the public. The project also gathered feedback from victims and witnesses about their experiences with prosecutors’ offices, including whether they felt heard and respected, understood what was happening in their cases, and received the information they needed. The findings gave participating offices an opportunity to compare how their practices were viewed internally with how they were experienced by the people they serve.
Legitimacy → Compliance & Cooperation
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1Authorities’ Behavior
- Voice
- Neutrality
- Trustworthy
- Respectful
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2Community Member Perceptions
Legal authorities serve the best interests + are worthy of respect
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3Behavioral Outcomes
- Voluntary respect for rules and laws
- Cooperation with authorities
- Employees feel less stressed
Why this matters for prosecutors
Research on procedural justice shows that people’s perceptions of fairness are shaped not only by the outcome of a case, but also by how they are treated throughout the process.
When victims, witnesses, defendants, and community members feel heard, respected, and treated fairly, they are more likely to trust and cooperate with justice system actors. For prosecutors, that can translate into stronger victim and witness engagement, better relationships with the community, and greater cooperation with the justice system. This is especially true in gun violence cases, where victim and witness engagement, community relationships, and cooperation can have a direct impact on an office’s ability to investigate cases, hold people accountable, and respond effectively to violence.
Findings worth paying attention to
Victims placed a high value on how they were treated throughout the process.
Respect was the strongest-rated procedural justice dimension in the victim and witness surveys. Victims who felt heard, treated with dignity, and supported were more likely to report satisfaction with their experience, including when the outcome of the case was not what they had hoped for.
Communication was one of the clearest opportunities for improvement.
Victims and witnesses reported difficulty getting case updates, understanding the legal process, and receiving timely information about hearings, sentencing, and case outcomes. In some offices, respondents reported never being informed of the final disposition of their case. The surveys also identified gaps between how staff viewed their communication practices and how victims actually experienced them. Victims who reported regular, clear, and compassionate communication were more likely to report trust and confidence in the office.
Perceptions of Procedural Justice Tenets in Victim-Prosecutor Interactions
Voice
Respect
Neutrality*
Transparency*
Bars show average ratings on a 1–5 scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) for each procedural justice tenet. Blue bars reflect prosecutors' self-ratings of their own office's practice; green bars reflect victims' ratings of that same interaction. Asterisks mark the two tenets where prosecutors' and victims' ratings diverged most: victims rated their office's neutrality higher than prosecutors rated themselves, while prosecutors rated their own transparency higher than victims actually experienced it.
Mid-career prosecutors may warrant particular attention.
Across multiple offices, prosecutors who had been in the office for several years reported less positive perceptions of the office’s voice and neutrality practices with external audiences than both newer and more senior prosecutors. This finding may help offices identify where additional attention to communication, engagement, and organizational culture could be useful.
Respectful interactions can have an impact beyond a single case.
Prosecutors appropriately face ethical limits on communicating with represented defendants, but procedural justice can still be reflected in everyday interactions in court and through appropriate channels. Participants also noted that someone who is a defendant in one case may later be a victim or witness in another, and that their prior experiences with the justice system may influence their willingness to engage with it in the future.
Partner relationships got measurably stronger.
Offices developed clearer lines of communication with law enforcement and community and violence-prevention partners, closing gaps in victim and witness engagement and enabling more coordinated responses to high-harm cases.
The work has to be realistic about the demands on prosecutors’ offices.
Across participating offices, staff identified high caseloads, limited staffing, and lack of time as significant barriers to improving communication, community engagement, and individualized support for victims and witnesses. ETL recognizes these constraints and focuses on changes that can be incorporated into an office’s existing operations and priorities.
Leadership commitment was critical to sustaining the work.
Offices where leaders actively modeled and prioritized procedural justice were better positioned to incorporate those principles into day-to-day practice and office culture. Without visible and sustained leadership support, staff were more likely to view the work as a temporary initiative rather than an ongoing office priority.
Scope of the pilot
Seven prosecutor offices participated over 12- to 24-month engagements: Salt Lake County, St. Paul, Columbus, Milwaukee County, Cook County, Marion County, and Hennepin County. Engagement included in-person and remote workshops, staff and external surveys, and regular planning meetings with office leadership. Much of the pilot work focused specifically on gun violence prevention and response, using it to develop or strengthen gun diversion and intervention programs and cross-system coordination with law enforcement and community partners.
- Salt Lake County
- St. Paul
- Columbus
- Milwaukee County
- Cook County
- Marion County
- Hennepin County
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01
Workshops and planning sessions, in person or remote, scheduled around the office’s priorities.
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02
Confidential surveys of staff and of victims/witnesses, with results shared with office leadership.
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A facilitated assessment to identify a specific challenge, examine its causes, and build an action plan around voice, neutrality, respect, and trustworthiness.
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Access to lessons learned from other participating offices addressing similar issues.
Next phase
The next phase of ETL extends the same framework to a broader set of day-to-day challenges — including hiring and retention, victim and community engagement, and emerging issues such as auto theft alongside continued gun violence work. Offices that participate help shape how ETL support is tailored to their specific priorities. Offices interested in learning more or exploring participation in this next phase can contact Marlene Biener, Chief Operating Officer, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, at marlene.biener@apainc.org.