The Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System issued a report that sought to answer the allegation by some in the justice field that believe there is a disproportionate number of African-Americans in prison and jail because African Americans commit more crimes. The Prilimanary Report on Race and Washington State’s Criminal Justice System” gave rest to that argument by concluding that the disparity is “due to facially neutral policies that have racially disparate effects.”
The Task Force investigation discovered that Washington’s minority youth are given more severe sentences, and are treated unequally by probation officers. The state’s white defendants are sentenced under guidelines far more than defendants who are non-white, and when it is time to be sentenced, minority defendants are 62% more likely to be sent to prison. The study also determined that the Washington State Patrol is more apt to stop minority drivers despite the fact white drivers have a higher rate of drug seizures in such stops. Latinos are given stiffer financial sanctions than whites in the state of Washington. The Task Force reported that even though the state’s policies are supposed to be “facially neutral,” that is not the case.
The full report can be viewed in the Library section of www.reentrycentral.org
Source: The Sentencing Project
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