District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett has been picked by his peers across the nation to be president-elect of the National District Attorney’s Association. It is a well-deserved honor.
Blodgett will serve his term as president next year and it is characteristic of his style as a law enforcement leader that he used the word “humbled” to describe the recognition accorded him.
Through his leadership style and the approaches taken by the assistant district attorneys in his office, Blodgett has demonstrated he is a forward-thinking district attorney who has a big picture perspective on crime and legal matters.
He seized on cyberbullying well before many of his peers and sponsored forums bringing together legal experts across the state and the nation to attack this 21st-century menace. Drawing on moving testimony from bullying victims and cyber crime experts, Blodgett pointed an unerring finger at a growing menace and warned well before others took up the cry nationwide about social media’s capacity for harm.
He took a similarly relentless approach to host liability and the role it plays in drunk driving tragedies. Blodgett made himself perfectly clear in stating that adults take risks, face liability and prosecution if they let minors consume alcohol in their homes.
He rejected formerly socially-acceptable excuses about letting “kids be kids” or, “It’s safer to let them drink where I can see them.” Blodgett insisted that real change aimed at abolishing teenage alcohol abuse begins at the family level just as prom safety education takes place at the school level.
His concerns about decriminalizing marijuana also went against the grain of accepted popular perspectives on the drug. Blodgett was not alone in urging elected officials, educators and parents to consider the potential links between marijuana use and youthful introduction to addictive drugs.
It is easy to suggest his opposition is founded in outdated, even archaic views about marijuana, but Blodgett can’t be ignored when he warns about the intersection of societal indifference and drug use, crime, and family tragedies.
Striding onto a national stage will give Blodgett an overdue opportunity to display his office’s conviction record and his law enforcement perspective with prosecutors around the country. One point of pride he will be able to highlight is the Essex DA’s success in bringing child abusers to justice. Named 2017 prosecutor of the year, Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall may be the nation’s most relentless domestic violence and crimes against children prosecutor.
Roughly half of the National DA’s Association’s membership are elected DAs, including Blodgett. During his tenure in the service of Essex County residents, Blodgett has understood that his office is responsible for prosecuting criminals. He also understands the role he plays in shining a light on injustice, even when societal norms and indifference excuse certain types of transgressions.
North Shore residents have a good reason to be proud of Blodgett and happy for his opportunity to stride onto a national stage.