Program date: March 13, 20926
Air date: March 16, 2026
From the City Club of Eugene:
Overworked, Underpaid. Understaffed. That is the day-to-day reality faced by the 24 lawyers working to bring criminals to justice in Lane County. The case numbers are staggering. In 2025, the office filed 4,840 criminal cases involving 3,525 victims. The advent of technology has made the work more time consuming; reviewing all the body camera footage takes substantial amounts of time.
District Attorney Chris Parosa describes the issue as a “looming crisis” and fears a mass exodus of prosecutors, similar to the 18 months in 2021 and 2022 when 16 prosecutors left the office.
In this program, our district attorney describes the scope of the problem and proposes possible solutions.
Speakers:
Chrisopher J. Parosa graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in political science and earned a JD from the University of Oregon School of Law. In November of 2004, he became a Deputy District Attorney in Josephine County, but left to return to the Willamette Valley and join the Lane County District Attorney’s Office in April of 2006. Following assignments on the General Felony and Major Crimes team, Chris became a felony Trial Team Leader before accepting the Chief Deputy District Attorney position in November of 2021. In May of 2024, Chris was elected District Attorney of Lane County. Due to the early retirement of his predecessor, Governor Kotek appointed Chris to become the District Attorney in June of 2024. In 2025, Chris was appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Oregon Senate to serve on the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. In addition to serving as the District Attorney, he is a member of the Board of Directors at Kids First, Lane County’s child advocacy center.
About the City Club of Eugene:
The mission of the City Club of Eugene is to build community vision through open inquiry. The Club explores a wide range of significant local, state, and national issues and helps to formulate new approaches and solutions to problems. Membership is open to all, and Club members have a direct influence on public policy by discussing issues of concern with elected officials and other policy makers. The City Club’s mailing address is PO Box 12084, Eugene, OR 97440, and its website is cityclubofeugene.org.
Video and Broadcast
This program will be live streamed, and the videotape will be made available on the City Club of Eugene’s Facebook page and You Tube Channel, in addition to our website. It will be broadcast on Monday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m., on KLCC 89.7 FM.
Contact: For more information, visit CityClubOfEugene.org.