In a recent classroom interview, students from DelVal’s News Reporting class had a chance to get to know Joe Khan, Bucks County’s newest district attorney. Each student crafted a profile, highlighting a different perspective of his life and job. Here are a few excerpts from their stories.
Joe Khan: Taking on a “Broader View of Justice”
By Kaityln Adams / Reporter The Full360
For over a decade, tenants in a building in Dublin Borough lived in conditions that were not only unsafe but violated basic housing standards meant to protect residents.
When the Bucks County Health Department officials were called out, they were hit by the stench of human waste and witnessed an infestation of rats, roaches and mosquitoes. Eight people shared one bathroom. Pipes were broken, and without heat, space heaters were used, posing a fire hazard.
The inhuman conditions caught the attention of Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan who took on the case.
“People were spending $900 a month to live in what was really a death trap that could have killed everyone if there had been an electrical fire,” he said.
The Consumer Protection Law, he said, plays a key role in situations like this, as it ensures that tenants are treated fairly and are not subjected to dangerous living environments. By using this law, the District Attorney was able to step in and take legal action against the landlord showing that these situations are not just housing issues, but matter of public safety. The case also required coordination between law enforcement, inspectors and legal teams, demonstrating how multiple parts of the community must work together to address the serious problems.
Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
The Dublin Borough case highlights how long-term neglect can go unnoticed without legal intervention.
“What we did is we brought a lawsuit after this place was condemned and these folks were all evicted. …all of them were housed immediately, thankfully…Then we went to court to say, we want justice. That’s what I think prosecutors ought to do. And we’re going to be the avenging angels for these folks.”
Khan said the case was more than just about going to court to protect a few residents.
He said it was also to “send a message to landlords not just in Bucks County but maybe all over Pennsylvania that if the roof is caving in and you’ve got rodents and insects going everywhere you can either fix the problem or deal with the District Attorney.”
Joe Khan, the District Attorney of Bucks County, said his office is taking a broader view of justice.
“And we want to rethink what public safety means so that we have a DA’s office and really a county government and local government that comes together to get justice and protect everyone.”
Following cases like Dublin Borough, Khan approach to justice is shaped by the path that led him into law. During his time studying journalism, he followed stories that exposed wrongdoing which sparked his interest in the people responsible for holding others accountable. Rather than just reporting injustice, he wanted to be directly involved in addressing it. This decision pushed him toward pursuing a career in law, where he could take action instead of just simply observing.
Khan gained experience working in both the District Attorney’s office of Philadelphia and the other being United States Attorney’s Office for the whole Eastern District of Pennsylvania. These roles exposed him to different types of cases from local crimes to larger federal investigations.
That experience helped shape his understanding of justice on multiple levels and prepared him for the responsibilities of leading Bucks County.
Khan says “You get better kind of learning from your mistakes. So I made lots of them. but what I’ve tried to do is never make the same mistake twice. and, and it’s not necessarily, when I look at mistakes, I don’t think of them as necessarily things I regret. I don’t necessarily have a lot of those.
His career also included setbacks. When Khan first ran for District Attorney, he lost. Rather than discouraging him, the experience became a turning point.
Khan says, “My political journey, the first time I ran for office, I lost, and I learned a lot from that experience. I don’t think there’s anything I could have done differently in order to have won the first time I ran for district attorney. I don’t regret having run for district attorney. but the, the things that I learned from that, from that experience, I think served me very well and put me in a position so that when I did run for district attorney again, I was able to win that office.”
Joe Khan expanding the network of mental health support for attorneys
By lauren Caruvana / Reporter The Full360
Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
District Attorney Joe Khan was on the job for just two weeks when police and attorneys were called to the scene of a triple homicide in Northampton, Township.
“One of my top attorneys who was assigned to prosecute the case went inside the house, which was covered in blood and all kinds of just horrific things to make sure she had an understanding of everything.”
Khan said he knew she, like many attorneys and law enforcement officials who face such traumatic scenes, needed support to cope.
“And then I was asked if I wanted to go in, and I realized I didn’t need to see all that. I don’t need to have those images in my head for my office to prosecute this case effectively. And, you know, I don’t need to see all that to understand that the woman who just went in that office, in my office, needs support to make sure that she has it.”
Khan’s response to the trauma he and his staff are exposed to when handling violent crime scenes mirrors a growing recognition within the criminal justice system concerning mental health. While exposure to traumatic material can have long-lasting psychological impacts, strong leadership and support can reduce the risk of developing negative health outcomes. As district attorney, Khan has made it a mission to expand the network of support for attorneys within his office.
“I need to make sure I have the support for the people that are dealing with that traumatic information, so that they can have the support they need to do their job….We have our wellness committee that we’re starting, that’s going to support everybody who needs it.”
Khan shared that his earlier experiences in legal work were emotionally challenging, sharing how exhausting the exposure to second-hand trauma can be for young attorneys in criminal law. In particular, cases that dealt with violence and abuse proved to be the most challenging to cope with.
“It’s work that can be hard to leave at the office… it does take a toll. It impacts your personal well-being. It can impact your relationships with others,” he said.
As a young attorney, Khan candidly explained how second-hand trauma without access to a proper support system can add to the mental strain.
“I also kind of needed a break from the day-to-day, you know, second-hand trauma that I was dealing with, with those cases. And there really wasn’t a support system. Frankly, there wasn’t even a language for that back then.”
While some DA offices and law enforcement departments across the country were beginning to integrate mental health support services, he noted that Bucks County seemed to lack those much-needed resources.
“We have amazing attorneys. We have amazing detectives, and we have victim witness support staff that all have to try and help our victims and survivors. And in the process of doing that, they’re getting exposed to some really tough stuff.”
Just last week, Khan and his team formed what they’re calling a wellness committee that includes a detective, an attorney, and a victim-witness advocate. By bringing the group together, Khan believes that the office can better identify the needs of the staff and work together to develop healthy coping mechanisms and a safety net for those struggling.
“I want this to be an office that protects the protectors and looks out for those who are looking out for others.”
– Joe Khan, emphasizing how important mental health support is for those working in the justice system.
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To ensure he is prioritizing his own mental health, Khan ensures that he keeps a healthy work-life balance, dedicating time to his family and children. To celebrate the achievement of winning the election for District Attorney this past January, Khan and his family recently welcomed a new member into their family— a sheep-a-doodle named Winnie—to mark the occasion.
Khan maintains that his children are especially important when it comes to disconnecting from work.
“My kids are ample at helping me find the balance because they don’t let me get too caught up in being the DA, they remind me I still have to go clean up dog poop and be their dad.”
While adopting a puppy was fulfilling a promise made to his children and actively inviting joy into his home, Khan announced that Winnie would soon be going through the process to become a support dog that all the members of his office could take advantage of.
“We are going to have Winnie go through the process to be a support dog. so that not just me, but really anyone in my office can kind of, you know, have the joy of, of petting Winnie.”
Director of Communications, Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
The Spider-Man of Bucks County: Joe Khan
By Benicio Ortiz / Full360 Reporter
Joe Khan didn’t come from a family of lawyers. But something in his childhood inspired him to seek a career in justice.
“I was raised with a pretty strong sense of right and wrong. And so growing up, I felt like a lot of stuff I saw just wasn’t right.”
Joe Khan is now the 35th DA, District Attorney, of Bucks County PA, and is the most recent Democrat elected since 1891. In his youth he grew up in Philadelphia Pa., alongside other first-generation immigrants, reading Superman and Batman comics and developing a sense of justice. He wanted to be much like the hero’s whose comics he read, being able to stick up for the little guy when they had no voice to use.
This line of justice is what pushes Khan to act. He’s seen and experienced how immigrant families are treated and cheated in the system simply because they don’t know or understand it. He’s lived in these communities and understands what it means for these families to struggle and just get by even when they’re trying to live an honest life. He also knows that it’s harder for them to speak up about it to avoid any trouble as to avoid any negative attention.
“I have seen Korean, Chinese business owners, being targeted because of that cultural issue, people deciding, you know what, I’m going to rob these folks and they’re probably not going to raise their hand and complain about it and call nine one one so I can get away with it.” Khan said when asked how being a first-generation immigrant influenced his way of justice.
One such way he was able to act on this and protect the community of Bucks County was on people buying used cars. The Spanish speaking community had called into their consumer protection line and the big thing that they kept bringing up was that they felt like they were being mistreated and ripped off. So Khan and his team looked at New Jersey that had a law that protected such. With support they were then able to pass said law, giving people a bill of rights when it came to purchasing a used car.
Another reason why Khan fights so hard for immigrants, is that he himself is a first generation Pakistani immigrant, as his father had arrived here in the sixties. He grew up with other first generation immigrants of different ethnicities, stemming from Mexico, Malaysia, and even other South Asian countries. They all grew up with a simple connection, rice. It was a food found in all their cultures and that they all shared and although their countries were separated by thousands of miles had this one common piece.
“I actually spent a lot of time as I got older, with other, first generation kids who just ate a lot of rice in their house. So we, that was like one thing that drew a lot of our cultures together is whether it was Pakistan, Mexico, Malaysia, we all just ate a lot of rice” Khan said when asked how being a first generation influenced his way of justice.
He also had a strong influence during his time at the University of Chicago. He was able to meet a professor who was able to help him understand his justice that he wanted to pursue. Someone who much like him wanted to push back against the cultural barrier and be able to help everyone in the community. Even when they’re constantly being struck down they both got up to keep fighting the good fight.
“He taught courses on race in the law, which was very much an interest of mine. How the legal system could be unfair to folks, because of their race and their background. . .he had grown up always kind of feeling different and kind of feeling like an outsider. And when he helped me understand when I was about your age, is that having to always kind of build bridges between communities. Every time I met somebody because no one had the same background as me. That wasn’t going to hold me back as a public interest lawyer. That was going to be my superpower. So his name was Barack Obama”
When asked about the kind of world he wants to build for his kids, he said:
“…with the power that I have in the corner world that I’m in right now, I want to do whatever I can to make that different, because I don’t think it’s fair to have what we have. And I don’t like things being unfair. That’s kind of what got me into this racket in the first place. So I’m going to do everything I can to make it a better world.”
