Policy Statement: Commitment to Defenders
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Reduct.Video empowers criminal defense attorneys to organize, review, and litigate their cases effectively and efficiently. Our review of centralized Digital Evidence Management Systems (DEMS) currently deployed by agencies within the criminal legal system compels us to institute an ethical policy change.
We concluded that offering a single, centralized platform for the prosecution and the defense in adversarial criminal proceedings creates an unresolvable conflict of interest and an inherent appearance of impropriety. Effective immediately, Reduct.Video will cease all provision of services to law enforcement agencies, including District Attorneys’ offices, and related prosecutorial entities engaged in adversarial criminal proceedings.
This decision is driven by Reduct’s commitment to its core clients, particularly public defender offices, and a belief that the foundational ethical structure of the U.S. justice system demands complete separation between the State and the Defense.
“The adversarial nature of the U.S. legal system presents an irreconcilable ethical conflict when both defense and prosecution store their critical, sensitive discovery materials in the same software ecosystem. We believe the unique vulnerability of public defenders’ data requires a commitment beyond standard data protection.”
– Robert Ochshorn & Prabhas Pokharel, co-founders of Reduct
