The Prosecuting Attorney for Arkansas’s 20th Judicial District, Carol Crews, spoke to students about the role the prosecutor’s office plays in the criminal justice system on Oct. 4 in McCastlain Hall. 

Arkansas’s 20th Judicial District includes Faulkner, Van Buren and Searcy counties. 

In 2018, Crews became the first female prosecuting attorney elected for her district. 

Throughout her career, Crews has spent much of her time in juvenile court and adult circuit court prosecuting sexual assaults, crimes against children and violent crimes.

Crews said a prosecutor’s job is to “help someone through the worst thing that has ever happened to them.”

Crews supervises 11 attorneys and said it takes time management skills, passion and thick skin to be a good prosecutor. 

“We are supposed to seek justice. Sometimes it’s a plea in a drug court or a life sentence for a serial child molester,” Crews said. “We just have to do what’s best for the case each time.” 

Crews said it is important for prosecutors to make decisions based on the facts and evidence of the case and to make decisions they can stand by when they face criticism. 

“The public criticizes a decision you did or didn’t make with only a fraction of the information presented,” Crews said. “You have to live and die by your decisions.” 

“I’ve made changes on how we charge people in Faulkner County by trying to make it more thorough. We are harsh on sex offenders and crimes against children, but we never want to charge someone with a crime they didn’t commit,” Crews said. “If the evidence isn’t there, it’s got to go.” 

Crews said, in her profession, some cases keep you up at night. 

Crews spoke about a case in Conway in 2018 where a woman was abducted from TJ Maxx on a Saturday in the middle of the day. 

“She died a very violent death,” Crews said. “You feel the weight of that on your shoulders to get whatever justice looks like in that case.”

Crews said the people that murdered the woman were young and came from bad situations. 

“It was really tragic. Those two people chose to kill someone they didn’t know. There was a chill in the town after that happened,” Crews said. 

Crews spoke about another case in Conway where a man was shot on Donaghey Avenue. 

In this case, a young woman had a flat tire, so she called her father to help her fix it. A man was driving down the road and shot the woman’s father in the face. 

“He died right there in front of her,” Crews said. 

Crews said the woman didn’t think she would be able to speak about the crime in court because it was too traumatizing. 

“She went from ‘I don’t think I can come to court and watch this’ to being able to stand up there and give her eyewitness account of that crime,” Crews said. “The media didn’t pick up on this case for whatever reason, but this was a random act of violence that happened in Conway.” 

Crews said Arkansas is one of six states in the U.S. where the jury recommends sentences for crimes. 

“Lately, the juries have been more sympathetic to people on drugs, even in a violent crime situation,” Crews said. 

Crews said Faulkner County is known for having a lot of trials. 

“I think that is good and I wish we could have more. New studies have shown that it is very healing for victims to get to go to court and tell their story. It can help them move past what happened if they get their day in court,” Crews said.  

Crews said that one challenge she faces is keeping violent crime at bay. 

“We are close enough to a certain place that we get some spillover,” Crews said. 

Crews said the solution she has been trying is approaching juvenile crime differently. 

“We have had a lot of luck with getting to kids early, but we are still seeing a lot of very young, very violent offenders,” Crews said. 

Robert Norvell, a visiting lecturer for UCA’s criminology program, said working cases is “beautiful chaos” that requires “lots of preparation.”

Crews said you have to know your case better than anyone if you want to win. 

“You win your case in your office,” Crews said.