Plot Synopsis

PHILLY D.A. is an eight-episode docuseries that details the dramatic work inside the office of current Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a fiery civil rights attorney who won a longshot campaign for D.A. in 2017 and has continued to make headlines ever since. While this is a show that follows the Philly D.A.'s office and the people its policies affect, the series is an entry point for exploring complex, systemic issues facing communities all around the country including mass incarceration, the lack of accountability in policing, systemic racism in the legal system, and the debate over how resources are best spent to achieve public safety.
In 2017, Krasner, a civil rights attorney who sued the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times throughout his career, mounted a longshot campaign supported by activists and organizers, and ultimately won the District Attorney's seat in a city that has the highest incarceration rate of any large city in the United States. From Krasner's win in 2017 up to the present moment, PHILLY D.A. brings viewers inside the emotional, high-stakes work that Krasner and an ensemble of idealistic outsiders from different walks of life take on as they strive to overhaul an entrenched criminal justice system while grappling with detractors, political opposition and a skeptical public.

Verite documentary filmmakers Ted Passon and Yoni Brook secured wide-ranging access to the District Attorney's office, embedding themselves on a near daily basis for the last three years. This unfiltered access captures Krasner's dramatic first year in office and documents the day-to-day struggles of trying to change the entrenched criminal justice system. Krasner and his team drew national headlines as they pushed for reforms such as prosecuting police misconduct and brutality, rethinking sentencing, reforming probation and parole, minimizing the use of cash bail,and ending pursuit of the death penalty.

While crime, punishment and policing have been subjects intensely explored through film and television, the District Attorney's office has been an entity largely inaccessible to the public eye until now. Though much of PHILLY D.A. is shot inside the D.A.'s office, the series also takes to the streets of various neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia and into the lives of people who are directly impacted by the decisions made downtown. Each episode moves back and forth between the D.A.'s office and personal stories from those affected,including those currently incarcerated, victims of crime, political opponents, activists and concerned residents. Through real-time interviews with Krasner, his team and those who disagree with his approach, including prosecutors in his own office, sitting judges, victims of crime and law enforcement officials, PHILLY D.A. captures a never-before-seen, in-depth look inside the justice system as old and new guards clash.
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On Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at 9pm (check local listings), PBS premiered the season finale of PHILLY D.A. Krasner recruits law students to join the next generation of prosecutors leading reform from within. Activists who campaigned for Krasner's election warn him of consequences if he doesn't accelerate plans to phase out cash bail.