Message from the President

Hon. Janet DiFiore, Westchester County District Attorney

I am honored to serve as the 2011-2012 President of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York. For over one hundred years, the Association has worked to improve our criminal justice system and enhance public safety in New York State. The Association provides an important voice for New York State's District Attorneys in the legislature, in the courts and in the public debates that affect criminal justice policy and practice. My goal is to build on the impressive work of the Association's past presidents, using the collected experience and knowledge of New York's sixty-two District Attorneys to advocate for justice and to speak out in support of policies that will help protect all New Yorkers.

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DAASNY Facts

The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York was formed in 1909, as the idea of District Attorney Beecher S. Clother of Glens Falls (Warren County), New York. The first known public mention of its formation appeared in the Rochester (New York) Union and Advertizer in its August 27, 1909 issue. "Upon the theory that big crooks have an organization to beat the law," the article stated, "the district attorneys of the state are going to combine into an association by which they will defeat the lawbreakers by mutual help."

There are 62 elected district attorneys in New York State, one for each county.

Thirty-eight district attorney offices have fewer than 10 prosecutors, twenty have fewer than 5. Seven offices have more than 100 prosecutors.