District Attorney talks about getting “smart on crime”

District Attorney Seth Williams fulfilled his promise to Lawncrest residents when he returned Tuesday night to the Lawncrest Community Association. He was there last year during his District Attorney campaign, and vowed to come back.

He covered several different topics, including the shift in prosecution to geographic areas — much the way police districts are set up. The Northeast has its own prosecutors and its own floor in the DA’s office.

And while he focused on a lot of negative topics, like Philadelphia having the highest rate of gun homicides in the country, Williams said his favorite thing to do is talking to school students and civic associations.

His bottom line, he said, is being “smart on crime,” not necessarily tough. “It’s not the severity of the punishment that changes behavior,” he said. “It’s the certainty of it.”

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