Discussing Criminal Justice Reform with Kane County State Attorney Jamie Mosser

By Yosor Alwan

2/21/22

Jamie Mosser was elected as Kane County's 43rd state attorney in 2020. I had assisted in Jamie Mosser's campaign when she had first announced running for Kane County State Attorney. I decided to work with Mosser to assist in her running campaign (in which she was elected) because I loved what she had on her campaign. Spending much of her legal field as a prosecutor, Mosser is acquainted with the criminal justice system and how it works. Due to Mosser having extensive experience in the Criminal Justice system and her being an advocate for criminal justice reform, I had decided to interview her. When interviewing Mosser the first question I had asked her was how she plans on implementing criminal justice reform by becoming the Kane County State attorney. Mosser had then proceeded to state that she had begun with a rehaul of cases and she teaches police sheriffs, attorneys, paralegals, and whomever she works with to look at people rather than viewing them solely as case files. Mosser stated that she also worked on implementing training to be more trauma-informed for her office and staff. Mosser placed a strong emphasis on the correlation of mental health, she had stated that trauma is most often the root of crime. Midst our interview Mosser had told me that we as human beings all process trauma in different ways and that trauma either makes us or breaks us. She had also shared with me how the trauma she underwent throughout her childhood was something that could have broken her, but instead, it empowered her and became the stepping stone for her to achieve this high position of power. Mosser had said she was able to overcome this because of the resources that were available to her because she was able to obtain mental health support. She had also stated that many of those who are in jail or committing crimes are people with unresolved trauma, she states how she could have ended up that way had she not had the resources to resolve the childhood trauma she had endured. As a result, Mosser is very passionate about implementing rehabilitative programs that serve to rehabilitate rather than serve as punitive. Much of the defendants she had worked with had trauma in the history of their lives and it led to substance abuse and crime. Thus, Mosser implements mental health programs in her programs in jails such as in jail trauma therapy, individual therapy, substance abuse programs for addiction, moral compass therapy (assistance with better decision making), auto shop classes, and cooking certifications to assist those who are incarcerated to be able to find jobs and prevent reincarceration. To conclude, interviewing Jamie Mosser was a wonderful experience and it gave me hope for criminal justice reform in the U.S and as well living in a more just fair world.