Larry Krasner facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Larry Krasner
26th District Attorney of Philadelphia
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2018
Preceded by	Kelley B. Hodge (Acting)
Personal details
Born	Lawrence Samuel Krasner (1961-03-30) March 30, 1961 (age 64) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lisa Rau
Education	University of Chicago (BA) Stanford University (JD)

Lawrence Samuel Krasner (born March 30, 1961) is an American lawyer and the 26th District Attorney of Philadelphia. A district attorney, or D.A., is the top lawyer who prosecutes crimes for a city or county. Elected in 2017, Krasner is known as a "progressive prosecutor." This means he wants to make big changes to the criminal justice system.

Krasner's main goals include reducing the number of people in jail. He has made several changes, like ending cash bail for some smaller, nonviolent crimes. Cash bail is money a person pays to get out of jail while they wait for their trial. He also supports more gentle punishments for certain crimes and wants to make sure police officers are held accountable for their actions.

In 2022, some lawmakers in the Pennsylvania state government tried to remove him from office through a process called impeachment. They disagreed with his policies. However, the process was stopped, and the state's highest court later ruled that the case was over.

Krasner was re-elected in 2021. In May 2025, he won the Democratic Party's primary election for a third term.

Early Life and Career

Larry Krasner was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1961. His father, William Krasner, was an author who wrote crime fiction books. His mother, Juanita Frazier, was a Christian minister. Krasner went to high school in Pennsylvania and later graduated from the University of Chicago and Stanford Law School.

After law school, Krasner moved to Philadelphia and became a public defender. Public defenders are lawyers who represent people who cannot afford to hire their own. In 1993, he started his own law firm. For 30 years, he worked as a criminal defense lawyer, often helping people involved in civil rights cases. He frequently represented protesters for free, which is called working pro bono.

Philadelphia District Attorney

Elections

2017 Election

In 2017, the race for Philadelphia's district attorney was open because the previous D.A. was not running again. Krasner decided to run for the job. He promised to end cash bail for some crimes, deal with police misconduct, and lower the number of people in prison.

His campaign received a large donation from a group supported by billionaire George Soros. Because Krasner had represented groups like Black Lives Matter, many saw him as a candidate who wanted to challenge the system. He won the Democratic primary election with 38% of the vote.

In Philadelphia, there are many more registered Democrats than Republicans. This means winning the Democratic primary usually leads to winning the main election. As expected, Krasner easily won the general election in November 2017 against his Republican opponent.

2021 Re-election

Krasner ran for re-election in 2021. His main opponent in the Democratic primary was Carlos Vega, a prosecutor Krasner had fired. During the campaign, some people argued that Krasner's policies had led to more crime. However, reporters at The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper said there was no evidence to prove this claim.

The police union in Philadelphia encouraged its members to vote against Krasner. Despite this, Krasner won the primary election with strong support from African-American neighborhoods and progressive groups. He went on to win the general election and his second term.

2025 Election

Krasner ran for a third term in 2025. He won the Democratic primary in May 2025 with over 60% of the vote. Since no Republican candidate ran against him in the general election, his primary victory secured his third term as District Attorney.

Work as District Attorney

This chart shows that people in a special program for illegal firearm possession were less likely to be re-arrested than those not in the program.

When Krasner first took office, he replaced 31 prosecutors. He wanted a team that shared his goals for reforming the justice system.

In 2018, Krasner made several big changes. He instructed his office to stop seeking cash bail for people accused of misdemeanors (less serious crimes) and some nonviolent felonies. He said it was unfair to keep people in jail just because they were poor. He also told prosecutors to seek shorter sentences for some crimes to reduce the prison population. He said:

"A dollar spent on incarceration should be worth it. Otherwise, that dollar may be better spent on addiction treatment, on public education, on policing and on other types of activity that make us all safer."

Krasner also created a special unit to review old cases. This unit checks if people were given sentences that were too harsh and works to get them corrected. By April 2022, this Conviction Integrity Unit had helped free 25 people who were wrongly convicted by previous district attorneys.

In 2019, Krasner challenged Pennsylvania's death penalty law. He argued in court that it was unconstitutional because it was applied unfairly and was a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

His policies have sometimes caused conflict. In 2020, after a police officer was killed, Krasner was criticized by a federal prosecutor. The prosecutor blamed Krasner's office for a decision made in an earlier case involving the suspect. Krasner's office defended its actions, saying it focused on the more serious crime.

Krasner was featured in a 2021 TV documentary series called Philly D.A. The show, which won a Peabody Award, followed his work to change the justice system in Philadelphia.

2022 Impeachment Attempt

In 2022, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, led by Republicans, started an investigation into Krasner. They accused him of not doing his duty to handle the city's crime problems. The House voted to impeach him, which is a formal charge of wrongdoing.

Krasner argued that the impeachment was political and not based on facts. A Pennsylvania court later agreed that his actions did not meet the state's standard for impeachment. In January 2023, the Pennsylvania State Senate postponed his trial forever. In September 2024, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania officially ruled that the impeachment articles had expired, ending the matter.

Personal Life

Krasner is married to Lisa M. Rau, who is a retired judge. They have two sons.

Krasner is also a part-owner of a company that owns several buildings in Philadelphia.

Electoral history

See also

• Tiffany Cabán
• Rachael Rollins