Page 41 - BusinessWest November 9, 2020

BusinessWest
Women of IMPACT
NOVEMBER 9, 2020 A21
Andrea Harrington addresses those gathered at a press conference to announce the launch of a juvenile- justice initiative, one of many programs she has introduced.
triumphing in a hotly contested race, is perhaps best summed up by Noreen Nardi, executive director of the Hampden County Bar Assoc., who nominated her for the Women of Impact award.
“I saw a criminal-justice system that was stuck in this old model — a punishment model. And given how many resources were being put into it, we were not getting a good return on that investment, and it was just spreading misery throughout our community.”
“The election of Andrea Harrington to Berkshire district attorney has had a transformational
effect on the county, its criminal justice system, and politics,” she wrote. “Andrea has remade operations in the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office with an eye toward modernization, innovation, and integrity. She’s revamping how
the staff prosecutes crime and handles court
cases, changing its media and communications practices to emphasize complete transparency, and overhauling operations on community outreach,
“problem solving.”
And there are many problems to solve, she
told BusinessWest, listing poverty, opioid addiction, domestic violence (Berkshire County has a 33%
higher rate of restraining orders than the rest of the state), behavioral-health issues, and many others.
Harrington’s influence, just two years after
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