Middlesex
native, touts a long career in criminal justice reform and is particularly interested in working with juveniles. She most recently served for eight years in the Stamford, Conn., mayor’s office in his Youth Services Bureau, focusing on restorative justice. In that role, she focused on connecting with disengaged youth, working with atrisk families in the school system to promote equity and instituting diversionary programs for kids becoming involved with the criminal justice system, among other issues.
“I love interacting with the public and working with kids and youth,” she said. “I’m so excited to come back to the DA’S office, because it is all about public engagement, and then marrying that with the law and public safety. To me, it’s just a fantastic fit.”
Ryan said the role is a natural continuation of the equity work the county has already been engaged in.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work on that, and it became clear that one of the things that we needed was an internal voice that was really just focused on those issues, and that could help us around issues of training, around using diversion programs, and around really knowing and utilizing the academic resources that we are so fortunate to have here in Middlesex, to be doing the best and the most forward-thinking work, and really reimagining how a prosecutor’s office (functions),” she said.
Ryan said she chose Soares Thompson for the position, after a search that began over the summer, for her experience as a defense attorney and a teacher, and in academia.
“I’ve been, for a long time, and we have in this office, a very bigger supporter of diversionary pro
grams like restorative justice, and others, and Antonia really brings a specialty in those areas,” she said. “She was the perfect person for this.”
In her new role, Soares Thompson sees trustbuilding as her biggest challenge ahead.
“If we want to have criminal justice reform, then there has to be that honest conversation about where are the gaps? Where are the things that we need to do to have that impact, to see the mass incarceration numbers come down, to do the diversionary work?” she said.
She added that these face-to-face, trust-building conversations will be made easier when the pandemic subsides.
She said she hopes to ensure that the Middlesex DA’S office staff are comfortable in their work.
“No. 1 is to (ask), what are our cultural competencies that we have in the office? Where do people feel good about? Where do they want to learn more about?” she said.
She said she plans to continue holding cultural competency trainings, developing initiatives to help prosecutors do their best work, and working with Ryan’s Anti-hate, Anti-bias Task Force.
As the George Floyd
case heads to trial, Soares Thompson acknowledged that building trust and creating change within the police in Middlesex County will also be a challenge. Because Ryan created Soares Thompson’s position, “it is a sign to the community and to law enforcement that things somewhat have to change, and that (Ryan) has an expectation that her community partners will work in a very positive, impactful way,” Soares Thompson said. “By her doing that, she’s kind of opened the pathway for this to be a little successful.”
Because these relationships already exist, she hopes she can build on them while instituting change.
Ryan hopes Soares Thompson’s position will further existing work the DA’S office has done, for example by eliminating cash bail for certain offenses and supporting criminal justice reform and diversionary measures.
“It can be easy to create these kinds of positions, but this has really evolved as an outgrowth of our work over the last three or four years,” Ryan said. “It’s a new person in that spot, but it’s a continuation of an effort that’s been ongoing for several years now.”