Using Root Cause Analysis to Study Prosecutorial Error: A Collaboration Between the Montgomery County (pennsylvania) District Attorney’s Office and the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice

The District Attorney's (DA) office not only prosecutes cases, but has expansive control over the criminal investigations themselves. Accordingly, DA's offices must possess high ethical standards and exhibit prosecutorial discretion in order to achieve justice in each case. In 2014, the Montgomery County (PA) District Attorney's Office decided to drop an alleged rape charge after it was discovered the criminal investigation leading to the charge contained a material error which prejudiced the defendant at trial. Following this error , the Montgomery County District Attorney partnered with the interdisciplinary Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School to conduct a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of the error. The goal of the RCA was to identify specific activities, policies, procedures, and environmental factors that allowed the error to occur, and to implement changes that would prevent similar errors from occurring in the future. In this way, the District Attorney sought to promote the highest levels of accuracy, reliability, fairness, accountability, and integrity in the handling of criminal cases throughout her office and the law enforcement community.