John Washington III Asks Who Holds the District Attorney Accountable — and Calls for an Independent Citizens' Justice Review
John Washington III is asking what happens when the officials accused of breaking the law are the same ones charged with enforcing it. His answer is an independent pathway to justice that does not depend on the institutions being challenged.
John Washington III posed the question directly: when a citizen has evidence of wrongdoing by a government official and the district attorney refuses to pursue the case, where does that citizen turn? "Who holds the district attorney accountable? Who investigates the investigators?" he wrote. "And who protects the people when the system refuses to act?"
His proposal is an independent citizens' justice review process. John Washington III argued that the American people should have the legal right to present credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing to an independent authority, especially when conflicts of interest may exist, and that such an authority should be empowered to review complaints, investigate where warranted and pursue appropriate legal action while protecting everyone's constitutional rights.
"Justice should never depend on someone's political connections, government position, wealth, or influence," he wrote, adding that government derives its authority from the people and that the justice system exists to serve the people, not to protect government officials from accountability. He called for a serious national conversation about establishing the review process, closing with the question at the center of his argument: if the people cannot hold their government accountable, who is the government truly serving?
