SAN FRANCISCO, July 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A
groundbreaking analysis by the Women Donors Network's Reflective
Democracy Campaign entitled Justice for All*? shows that 95%
of elected prosecutors in the U.S. are white and 79% are white men,
revealing a stark imbalance between those with enormous power in
the criminal justice system and the people they are elected to
represent.
"Americans are taking a new look at the relationship between
race, gender, and criminal justice—in the failures to indict police
officers from Ferguson to Staten
Island, the rogue prosecutions of women who terminated their
pregnancies from Indiana to
Idaho, and in the epidemic of mass
incarceration," said Donna Hall,
President and CEO of the Women Donors Network. "Elected prosecutors
have an enormous influence on the pursuit of justice in America,
yet 79% of them are white men whose life experiences do not reflect
those of most Americans."
Prosecutors decide whether to pursue a criminal case or not,
whether a crime will be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony, and
even whether prison time is served and how long. In the U.S.,
positions responsible for criminal prosecution range from County
District Attorneys to State Attorneys General. The Justice for
All*? research counted 2,437 elected prosecutors holding office
in the summer of 2014, matching race and gender to those
individuals using voter file records, review of publicly-accessible
resources, and direct inquiry to officials.
In many instances, prosecutors face election in "down-ballot"
races that take place in off-year elections when voter turnout is
at its lowest. The result is that these powerful positions
are not subject to a rigorous and democratic system of checks and
balances.
In fact, according to a recent study by Ronald Wright, a professor at Wake Forest University School of Law, 85% of all
incumbent prosecutors run unopposed.1
"The tremendous power and discretion in the hands of
prosecutors, combined with the concentration of those positions
among one demographic group, virtually guarantees inequality in our
criminal justice system," said Brenda Choresi Carter, Director of
the Reflective Democracy Campaign. "In the context of such
skewed numbers, when a white male prosecutor fails to secure an
indictment in Ferguson and another sends a woman of color in
Indiana to prison for 20 years for
feticide, we have to ask serious questions about systemic
bias.2"
The Justice for All*? research was released at
http://WhoLeads.Us/Justice, in conjunction with a conference call
with national organizations whose advocacy work is connected to the
role of elected prosecutors, including:
- Bryan Stevenson,
Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides
legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have
been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system and
advocates for criminal justice reform.
- Lynn Paltrow, Executive
Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which works to
secure the human rights of pregnant and parenting women,
particularly low-income women and women of color most vulnerable to
state control and punishment.
In addition to open access to the full database of 2,437
prosecutors, the http://WhoLeads.Us/Justice site includes
infographics and additional background information to engage the
public and the advocacy community on this crucial issue.
Other key findings of Justice for All*? include:
- 3/5 of states, including Illinois, have no elected Black
prosecutors.
- In 15 states, all elected prosecutors are white.
- Outside of Virginia and
Mississippi, only 1% of elected
prosecutors are Black.3
- Latinos are 17% of the population, and only 1.7% of elected
prosecutors.
- Only in New Mexico are white
men less than 50% of elected prosecutors
- There is only one state (Maine) where the percentage of women
prosecutors matches their percentage of the population (50%).
Justice for All*? builds on the Reflective Democracy
Campaign's groundbreaking research released in October 2014 revealing the race and gender of
42,000 elected office holders in the U.S., from the President down
to the county level (available at http://WhoLeads.Us).
Women Donors Network is a community of progressive women
philanthropists who contribute to a more just and fair world
through collaborative learning and action. Learn more
at womendonors.org.
The Reflective Democracy Campaign works to increase the power of
women and people of color in American public life through
ground-breaking research, catalytic grantmaking, and strategic
communications. Learn more about WDN's Reflective Democracy
Campaign at WhoLeads.Us.
1
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/osjcl/files/2012/05/Wright-FinalPDF.pdf
2 The St. Joseph
County judge sentenced Purvi
Patel to 41 years for the crimes of feticide and neglect of
a dependent (Patel will serve 20 of the 41 years in prison).
3 Mississippi and
Virginia have the highest
concentration of African American prosecutors, together accounting
for more than half (33) of the 61 black prosecutors nationwide.
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SOURCE Women Donors Network