Parisa Dehghani-Tafti

Parisa Dehghani-Tafti an Iranian-American politician and lawyer who was first elected in 2020 to a four-year term as Commonwealth's Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, Virginia. In Virginia, Commonwealth Attorneys are the chief prosecutors in their jurisdictions and Dehghani-Tafti is the first Iranian-American to be elected to such a position in the United States. Dehghani-Tafti is part of the "progressive prosecutor" movement and is featured in the first published historical account of the criminal justice reform movement: “Change From Within: Reimagining The 21st Century Prosecutor.”
==Early Life and Education==
Born in Iran, Dehghani-Tafti Dehghani-Tafti immigrated to the United States at five years old with her parents. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Philosophy and Comparative Literature and received her J.D. from New York University School of Law. 
==Professional Experience==
Prior to her election as Commonwealth’s Attorney, Dehghani-Tafti was the Legal Director at the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, an organization that "works to prevent and correct the conviction of innocent people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia." MAIP has helped exonerate at least 44 men in the D.C. area since its inception. Before joining MAIP, Dehghani-Tafti was a staff attorney with the Public Defender Service of Washington D.C., where she obtained the first post-conviction DNA exoneration in the District of Columbia.Dehghani-Tafti also served as was an associate professor at the New York Law School, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and the George Washington University School of Law. She is the author of one law review article on the use of forensic science in innocence cases: Folklore and Forensics: The Challenges of Arson Investigation and Innocence Claims and Innocence Claims, 119 W. Va. L. Rev. (2016).
==Political Career==
20118-2019 Commonwealth's Attorney Race
Dehghani-Tafti first declared her candidacy for the Commonwealth's Office for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, Virginia in December 2018 on a platform of ending mass incarceration. She stated that the "American criminal legal system is a mass incarceration machine set on auto-pilot" and that the machine is so efficient that the U.S. imprisons people at a higher rate than nay other country on earth." She vowed to "build a system that pursues justice, prevents crimes, and protect civil rights." The 2018-19 campaign pitted Dehghani-Tafti against long-time incumbent Theo Stamos in the democratic primary. The campaign generated controversy when Police Union demanded Deghani-Tafti apologize for describing a police shooting of a mentally ill individual who'd attached an officer as police brutality. The race garnered national attention as part of a wave of reform prosecutors challenging long-time incumbents in Northern Virginia On June 11, 2019, Dehghani-Tafti defeated Stamos with 52% of the vote compared to 48% for Stamos. Following her win in the democratic primary, Dehghani-Tafti faced no opposition in the general election and won election with 90% of the vote.
2022-2023 Commonwealth's Attorney's Race
In the 2022-23 Commonwealth's Attorney race, Dehghani-Tafti faced a challenger in the democratic primary when Josh Katcher declared his candidacy. Katcher also styled himself a reformer, claiming that he was more competent to deliver reform. On June 20, 2023, Dehghani-Tafti defeated Katcher by a 14-point margin in the democratic primary. She does not face an opponent in the general election and is expected to again easily win reelection. 
Record in Office
During her first term, Dehghani-Tafti faced criticism from the police, both for her office's handling of individual cases, and for a rise in crime. During her first-term Deghani-Tafti clashed with local judges, going so far as to sue them for seeking to interfere with her discretion. 
Category:Iranian Americans
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:New York University School of Law alumni
Category:Politicians
Category:Lawyers