The first woman District Attorney of Chester County’s term is up this year, but that’s not stopping Deborah Ryan from continuing her political career. With 20 years of experience as a prosecutor, Ryan is one of 13 candidates running for the position of the county’s Common Pleas Judge, writes Vinny Vella for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“I’m interested in making decisions on cases from the other side of the courtroom, where I know I’ll have the ability to make another significant impact,” said Ryan.
Ryan’s focused on child abuse cases as a county prosecutor. After winning the District Attorney seat in 2019, Ryan expanded a task force specifically for investing cybercrimes that target children.
During her term, she helped form both the Law Enforcement Task Force on Race & Justice and Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative, which offered nonviolent drug offenders into treatment as an alternative to prosecution.
“I know most people don’t consider voting for this type of election, but it has significant consequence,” she said.
If elected, Ryan would serve a 10-year term but would be barred from handling criminal cases for the first two years, to avoid any conflict of interest.
Read more about Deborah Ryan’s bid for judge in The Philadelphia Inquirer.