Page 20 - BusinessWest Women of Impact 2020

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She’s Transforming the Criminal Justice System in This
Rural Region
ike most who join the legal profession, Andrea Harrington says there’s a story behind her choice of career path.
In her case, it wasn’t a family member in that line of work who inspired her, or even a role
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model from the community — meaning the Pittsfield area. Instead, it was the lawyers she saw on TV shows, especially L.A. Law, which was in its prime when she was in high school, and some real-life lawyers, like Anita Hill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who inspired her to become the first in her family to go college, and eventually earn a law degree.
“Growing up, I didn’t really know many professional people,” she recalled, noting that her parents, like so many others, worked at General Electric’s massive transformer-production complex in Pittsfield. “I would see TV shows with lawyers, and to me, they looked like
“The election of Andrea Harrington to Berkshire district attorney has had a transformational effect on the county, its criminal justice system, and politics.”
people who have the power to make change.”
Not all lawyers have used that power, but Harrington
certainly has. In two short years after being sworn
in as district attorney of Berkshire County, she has introduced a number of important changes to the criminal-justice systems in this rural county — changes that are already having an impact. For example, Harrington has:
• Implemented a no-cash-bail policy for most defendants in county courts;
• Created the county’s first domestic- and sexual- violence task force;
• Assembled a staff of reform-minded individuals that better reflects the makeup of the county’s population;
• Implemented a vertical prosecution model so that
crime victims in District Court work with the same assistant district attorney and victim-witness advocate while their cases are resolved; and
• Initiated work to develop a formal Berkshire County DA’s Juvenile Diversion program to reduce juvenile crime and help youths make smart decisions.
Above all, Harrington said she is changing the mindset of criminal justice in the Berkshires, from a system
that has focused on punishment to one centered on
Photo by Leah Martin Photography
Women of Women of IMPACT
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By George O’Brien
Andrea Harrington
Berkshire County District Attorney