Race and
Ethnic Fairness
State:
Committee/Report Name: “Where the
Injured Fly for Justice” A Ten-Year Retrospect on the Report and
Recommendations of the Florida Supreme Court Racial and Ethnic Bias Study
Commission Preliminary Assessment: A first look at reporting on implementation
progress and identifying issues that require additional action December 2000.
Chief Justice Charles Wells commenced this Ten-Year Retrospect for the purpose
of ensuring continuing progress in the equitable treatment of and full
participation by racial and ethnic minorities in the Florida State Courts
System. This preliminary assessment is a first look at reporting on the
progress made in implementing recommendations by the Racial and Ethnic Bias Study
Commission, and identifying those recommendations that have not yet been
appropriately addressed.
Number of Committee Members: Twelve Task Force members
Chair/Co-Chairs: Two Chairs—Mr. Frank P. Scruggs, II
and Mr. Raul A. Arencibia
Methods Used: Documentation of activities in
up-to-date strategies to improve the equitable
treatment of racial and ethnic minorities in the
Topics
and Recommendations
Access
Recommendations
1. A non-English speaking
defendant would not be able to confer without the services of an interpreter.
2. That all
non-English speaking criminal defendants have a right to a certified
interpreter at all critical stages of the criminal prosecution. A introduced bill died in the Judiciary Committee. The
legislative citators from the 1993-97 legislative
sessions indicate no further action on this issue.
3. The
4. Qualifications
examinations will be offered to Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Cantonese
interpreters.
5. Rules of Judicial
Administration have been proposed will provide for a certification board, set
forth the requirements for certification of interpreters, provide for discipline
and regulation of court interpreters, establish a code of professional
responsibility, provide for continuing education requirements, and provide
direction to the courts on the appropriate use of interpreters.
6. Technological
advances over the past decade–such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing
with interpreters in remote locations–is also
increasing the accessibility and quality of court interpreters in less-common
languages.
Finding
1. The
Department of Juvenile Justice has recently begun to gather data on Hispanics
Juries
Recommendations
1.
Courtroom Experience
Recommendations
1. Required
state attorneys to adopt, file, and explain any deviations from criteria used
in the decision to “habitualize” offenders
Legal Profession
Recruitment/Acceptance to
Recommendations
1. Minority
admissions to
2. During the 2000
session, the Florida Legislature approved the establishment of two additional
public law schools, within universities that have a record of successfully
recruiting and graduating minority students.
3. In 1991, The
Florida Bar Foundation established a minority scholarship program, under which
a total of $3 million was subsequently awarded to 174 minority law students.
The Bar dropped its race-based eligibility requirement in 1997 because of
concerns over the effect of the 1996 Hopwood decision, and ended the program altogether
in 1999 because of a lack of funds.
4. In 1994, the
Florida Legislature approved the Minority Participation in Legal Education
scholarship program, with the goal of increasing by 200 the number of minority
students enrolled in law schools in this state. By April of 1999, 126
recipients had graduated. The program also awards undergraduate scholarships.
Funding appropriations have varied over the years. The program averages
approximately 370 applications annually and awards about 70 scholarships. It should
also be noted that the American Bar Association has recently established a
scholarship fund for minority students.
5. The Board had
agreed to permanently discontinue using the two dozen exam questions the
Commission’s experts found most objectionable.
6. The latest
race/ethnic-related bar exam issue involves a proposal to increase the
pass/fail standard. Law professors and others have expressed concern about this
proposal’s impact on minority bar applicants.
7. The
8. The Board of Bar
Examiners meets regularly with the deans of
9. The
10. The
Recommendations
1. Required state
attorneys and public defenders to review and eliminate staff salary
discrimination based on gender or racial considerations.
2. There are nearly 170
voluntary bar associations in
3.
4. The
5. The
6. The
dearth of minority faculty in
Education
Recommendations
1. Diversity training
is made available to all
2. The commission
urged that the following steps be taken to end the perception of racism: 1)
increased anti-bias training to judges, lawyers, and police; 2) recruitment of
minority lawyers and judicial nominees; and 3) adoption of rules for
questioning jurors about potential bias and for appropriate jury instructions
proscribing the consideration of race.
3. Education courses
are provided for judges, court managers, and personnel officers on civil rights
laws and other applicable employment laws.
The Committee on Employment Fairness
will issue a comprehensive statistical report and propose strategies to
continue efforts to increase diversity of court staff.
Recommendations
1. Training programs
are provided for chief judges, court managers, and court personnel officers on
civil rights laws and other applicable employment laws.
2. State Courts
System managers should be trained on the new recruitment regulations.
3. Training is
available to judges and court administrators about the appropriate use of
interpreters in the courtroom.
4. All
court staff, including minority women, are provided
with opportunities to participate in educational and training programs through
the state-waiver system and other agency-funded mechanisms.
Criminal Justice
Recommendations
1. Provided for research and training projects
aimed at improving law enforcement efforts with regard to minorities.
2. Newly-created Civil Rights Division, the
power to investigate alleged racial harassment by law enforcement officers.
3. Law enforcement agencies in
4. Since January 2000, the Florida Highway
Patrol has collected race data on all motorists it stops. Congress is currently
considering a bill (the “Traffic Stops Statistics Study”) that would mandate
such data collection.
5. Significantly strengthened the training all
law enforcement officers must receive, including in the area of cultural
awareness.
Recommendations
1. Several studies have been undertaken with
regard to pretrial release, including (1) The Florida Advisory Council on
Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) Interim Report: Current Need for and Status
of Pretrial Intervention Procedures in Florida’s Criminal Courts (April 1991);
(2) Intergovernmental Relations in Local Jail Finance and Management in
Florida: A Comprehensive Report (ACIR, August 1993); (3) An Evaluation of
Florida’s Local Pretrial Detention Population (The Leroy Collins Center for
Public Policy, August 1994); and (4) The Final Report of the Task Force for the
Review of them Criminal Justice and Corrections Systems (January 1995). In
addition, ACIR undertook a study of county jail expenditures resulting in a
final report in September 1990. The studies recommended increased expenditures,
but funding has been insufficient.
Recommendations
1. The Education Conferences for Circuit and
2. Judges can order substance abuse treatment
for offenders sentenced to state prison.
3. Community-based substance-abuse programs have
been created, but with limited financial assistance.
4. The mechanism is in place for diverting
nonviolent offenders from the state prison system by punishing such offenders
with community based sanctions, and thereby reserving the state prison system
for those offenders who are deemed to be most dangerous to the community.
However, it has not received sufficient funding.
5. Each circuit court now has an operational or
planned drug court. Trial courts are also experimenting with other alternative
sentencing models. Such programs should be independently evaluated, and
information about them should be made available to other circuits. Funding and
flexibility should be provided so as to encourage pilot projects.
6. The Treatment-Based Drug Court Steering
Committee is addressing the need for developing and implementing a statewide
management information system that will provide statistics on participants and
outcomes for evaluation. Grant funding has been awarded by the Drug Court
Programs Office to support this initiative.
7. A study done by the Economic and Demographic
Research Division (EDR) of the Joint Legislative Management Committee in August
of 1992 concluded that blacks and males were much more likely to be habitualized even after adjustments for prior record,
current offense, and other factors. Chapter changes in the law led to the
requirement of uniform criteria for habitualization.
Each state attorney must adopt criteria and place them on file with the Florida
Prosecuting Attorneys Association. Any deviation must be explained in writing.
8. Chapter 93-406, Laws of Florida, abolished
several minimum/mandatory provisions including those dealing with violent
offenses against law enforcement and certain weapons and drug offenses.
9. Attempted, but failed. In 1992, the Orlando
Sentinel studied
Recommendations
1. Achieved, then re-instituted. a sentence of incarceration for drug, non-violent property,
or other offenders who are appropriate candidates for non-incarcerative
sanctions.
Court as
Employer/Appointer
Recommendations
1. The State Courts System repeatedly requested
legislative authorization and funding to establish an Equal Employment
Opportunities office following the release of the report, but was unsuccessful
due to state budgetary constraints.
2. Each court will be
required to annually report their recruitment efforts to the Chief Justice.
3. State Courts
System Equal Employment Opportunities Committee proposed, and the Supreme Court
adopted, new personnel rules designed to increase the diversity of court staff.
Additionally, trial and appellate courts will be required to report
demographics of court staff on a regular basis.
4. The State Courts System
repeatedly requested legislative authorization and funding to establish an
Equal Employment Opportunities office following the release of the report, but
was unsuccessful due to state budgetary constraints. The recruitment
regulations developed in 2000 by the Equal Employment Opportunities Committee
provide for equity in the selection and hiring of court employees. Further,
each court will be required to annually report their recruitment efforts to the
Chief Justice.
5. Grievance
procedures have been established within each trial and appellate court, and
filed with the Office of the State Courts Administrator. The grievance
procedures are being actively utilized by court staff around the state.
6. Required each
clerk of court to conduct an annual review of race and gender employment
policies, including compensation, for all persons employed or appointed by the
clerk of court and to eliminate any inequities uncovered by the review.
7. The recruitment
regulations developed by the State Courts System’s Equal Employment
Opportunities Committee and approved by the Supreme Court provide for equity in
the selection and hiring of court employees, excluding personal staff. The new
rules also require all trial and appellate courts to annually report their
recruitment efforts to the Chief Justice.
8. In
1998,
Recommendations
1. Circuits report
that they have criteria in place to ensure the fair award of fee-generating
court appointments. In addition, the 2d circuit reports that all appointments
are made through program-specific committees.
2. Implemented
policy of The Florida Bar to ensure that all members, including women and
minorities, have equal opportunities to be appointed to committee membership,
committee leadership, and other positions.
Judicial Selection and
Discipline
Recommendations
1. The previous recommendation- The Florida
Legislature should mandate representative minority attorney and citizen
membership on each judicial nominating commission. Implemented, but overturned.
The legislature enacted this
recommendation in the spring of 1991. Though ruled unconstitutional in the
mid-1990's, the law had time in the intervening years to bring about change and
improvement. In the first round of judicial nominating commission (JNC) 23 out
of 26 individuals appointed were racial or ethnic minorities. In the following year, 19 minorities out of 26 seats, to the JNCs. The Legislation was considered in the spring
of 2000 that would have encouraged (rather than mandated) minority
representation on the JNCs, but for unrelated reasons
the bill did not pass.
2. JNCs amended their
rules to require that new members receive diversity training, racial
information be collected from applicants on a voluntary basis, and all judicial
openings be advertised with minority bar associations.
3. Governor Bush has made several minority
appointments and continues to call for a more diverse judiciary. In March of
2000, Bush told Bar members that his efforts to
appoint minority judges have been hindered by the lack of diversity in the
pools of applicants and in the recommendation lists he has received from the JNCs.
4. Encouragement of Bar members to nominate minorities and
placed ads in legal publications encouraging minorities to apply for JNC seats.
In its first round of appointments after the Commission’s report a “dramatic”
improvement in the Bar’s record was made.
Recommendations
1. The Commission was replaced by the Juvenile
Justice Accountability Board. The composition of the board must be broadly
reflective of the public and must include minorities and women.
2. The Department of Juvenile Justice is acutely
aware of racial and ethnic issues and is working to address them. Furthermore,
the Committee on Juvenile Fairness Issues of the Supreme Court Commission on Fairness, is addressing race, ethnicity, gender, and
disability issues in the juvenile delinquency and juvenile dependency systems.
3. The Committee on
Juvenile Fairness Issues of the Supreme Court Commission on Fairness,
is addressing race, ethnicity, gender, and disability issues in the juvenile
delinquency and juvenile dependency systems.
4. Some emphasis and
resources are directed to prevention; however it is difficult to determine
“equal quality.”
5. The composition of the Council must be
broadly reflective of the public and must include minorities and women.
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