Race and Ethnic Fairness
State:
Committee/Report
Name: The
Number of Committee Members: 39 Task Force Members
Number of Subcommittees: 6 Subcommittees
1. The Perception and Treatment of Minority Litigants and Minority Lawyers
in the
2. The Prosecution and Adjudication of Criminal Cases: Treatment of Minority Defendants
3. The Adjudication of Civil Cases: Treatment of Minority Litigants
4. The Under-representation and Treatment of Minority Judges,
5. An Education Program Designed to Increase Cultural Awareness and to
Prevent Minority Bias in the Courts.
6. Legislative Liaison Subcommittee
Chair/Co-Chairs:
Charles Z. Smith,
Methods Used: Methods of collecting data include public forums; two studies designed to collect demographic information on lawyers, judicial officers, and court personnel; a review of prosecutors’ and public defenders’ guidelines and their perceptions of racial and ethnic bias; a comparable study of community corrections offices; and two separate questionnaires developed to collect data on selected landlord-tenant problems and settlement amounts awarded minorities in asbestos cases.
Topics and Recommendations
Perception
Findings
1. Minorities believe that bias pervades the entire legal system in general and hence they do not trust the court system to resolve their disputes or administer justice even-handedly.
Access
Findings
1. Those working in the judicial system believe that the quality of justice delivered to minority litigants who require the services of an interpreter for legal proceedings are adversely impacted by the unavailability of a sufficient number of competent ant trained interpreters in the court system.
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the Office of the Administrator for the Courts provide funds for the Court Interpreters Advisory Committee to conduct continuing educational programs for court interpreters.
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the Supreme Court and the Office of the Administrator for the Courts develop measures to assist all state courts in improving cooperation and communication between the tribal and state court systems, especially on matters involving child custody.
Findings
1. A majority of county prosecutors and public
defenders in
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the Supreme Court create a task force or advisory committee to examine issues affecting persons with disabilities, their access to the courts and their treatment.
Juries
Findings
1. There is a perception that minorities are underrepresented, if represented at all, on most juries.
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the State Legislature pass and the courts support Second Substitute Senate Bill 5953 (2SSB 5953) in the 1991 legislative session. The bill would provide for an implementation plan to expand jury source lists to include licensed vehicle drivers and the state identicard holders. Currently the lists of jurors are drawn from theists of registered voters.
Courtroom Experience
Findings
1. There is a perception that some judges, lawyers, other officers of the court, and court staff have made offensive remarks and have demonstrated other biased attitudes toward minorities appearing in court. (See also Courtroom Experience: Court Staff, Finding #1; Courtroom Experience: Lawyers/Others, Finding #1)
Findings
1. There is a perception that some judges, lawyers, other officers of the court, and court staff have made offensive remarks and have demonstrated other biased attitudes toward minorities appearing in court. (See also Courtroom Experience: Judges, Finding #1; Courtroom Experience: Lawyers/Others, Finding #1)
Findings
1. There is a perception that some judges, lawyers, other officers of the court, and court staff have made offensive remarks and have demonstrated other biased attitudes toward minorities appearing in court. (See also Courtroom Experience: Judges, Finding #1; Courtroom Experience: Court Staff, Finding #1)
Quality
of Legal Representation
Findings
1. Those minorities who must rely on public defender organizations perceive themselves to be disadvantaged because those agencies remain understaffed, poorly funded, and lack sufficient available resources.
Recommendations
1. Given the concerns raised by minorities who must rely on public defender organizations, the Task Force recommends that the Office of the Administrator for the Courts continue to fund the Indigent Defense Task Force.
Legal Profession
Recruitment/Acceptance
to law school
Findings
1. More lawyers in the sample received their legal training at the University of Washington Law School than any other law school. A higher proportion of minorities than non-minorities attended out of state ranked law schools.
Recommendations
1. The
Task Force recommends that the State Legislature pass and the Office of the
Administrator for the Courts support the Proposed Minority Criminal Justice
Education Act in the 1991 legislative session. The legislation would establish
a conditional scholarship program designed to encourage minorities to serve as
prosecutors, public defenders and law enforcement officials in
2. The Task Force recommends that the State Legislature pass and the Office of the Administrator for the Courts support legislation establishing a conditional scholarship program to encourage minorities to serve as legal aid lawyers. The program would cover a student’s tuition and fees if the student agrees to serve a certain number of years as a legal aid lawyer.
3. In view of the small percentage of minority attorneys in this state, law schools in the state must be encouraged to continue their efforts to recruit more minority students.
4. The Task Force recommends increased private and public funding for law schools to recruit and retain minority students.
Findings
1. Asians, Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, and other minorities make up approximately five percent of the total sample of 6,348 lawyers. Thus we estimate that minorities make up about 5% of bar membership.
2. The large majority of lawyers surveyed worked in private practice, either in law firms or as sole practitioners.
3. Nearly one-fourth of all lawyers reported gross annual incomes in excess of $75,000
4. Non-minority lawyers were more likely than minority lawyers to work in private practice and earn in excess of $75,000 annually.
5. Minority lawyers are more likely to work as government agency lawyers.
6. Across
most
7. Racial and ethnic differences in incomes were associated with differences between non-minority and minority lawyers in terms of relative years of experience and types of practice. Few minority lawyers had the years of experience or positions in law firms which typically command the highest incomes.
8. The fact that minorities are less likely to hold positions in law firms is a concern because their apparent levels of education attainment are, on the average, equivalent to or higher than those of non-minorities.
Recommendations
1. The task Force recommends that the Washington State Bar Association collect and publish on an annual basis information concerning the composition of its minority and non-minority membership.
Education
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that issues involving racial and ethnic bias in the court system be a permanent component of new judges’ seminars, as well as integrated throughout the continuing education curricula provided to judges and court staff. (See also Education: Court Staff, Recommendation #2)
2. The Task Force recommends that the Minority and Justice Commission oversee the development and implementation of all awareness training and education involving racial and ethnic bias in the courts. The Commission’s collective knowledge and expertise would ensure that relevant programs and seminars would be presented to judges, other legal professional, and court staff. (See also Education: Court Staff, Recommendation #3; Education: Lawyers, Recommendation #3)
Findings
1. There is a need for ongoing cultural awareness education as an effective means of dealing with individual biases and educating legal professional and court staff about existing institutional biases. (See also Education: Lawyers, Finding #1)
2. The initial efforts at providing cultural awareness seminars met most of the general parameters proposed by the Task Force. The seminars were well attended by legal professionals, court staff, and other criminal justice personnel. (See also Education: Lawyers, Finding #2)
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the State Legislature appropriate funds for continuation of the introductory cultural awareness seminars developed by the Task Force in 1990 and the development of intermediate and advanced seminars. (See also Education: Lawyers, Recommendation #1)
2. The Task Force recommends that issues involving racial and ethnic bias in the court system be a permanent component of new judges’ seminars, as well as integrated throughout the continuing education curricula provided to judges and court staff. (See also Education: Judges, Recommendation #1)
3. The Task Force recommends that the Minority and Justice Commission oversee the development and implementation of all awareness training and education involving racial and ethnic bias in the courts. The Commission’s collective knowledge and expertise would ensure that relevant programs and seminars would be presented to judges, other legal professional, and court staff. (See also Education: Judges, Recommendation #2; Education: Lawyers, Recommendation #3)
Findings
1. There is a need for ongoing cultural awareness education as an effective means of dealing with individual biases and educating legal professional and court staff about existing institutional biases. (See also Education: Court Staff, Finding #1)
2. The initial efforts at providing cultural awareness seminars met most of the general parameters proposed by the Task Force. The seminars were well attended by legal professionals, court staff, and other criminal justice personnel. (See also Education: Court Staff, Finding #2)
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the State Legislature appropriate funds for continuation of the introductory cultural awareness seminars developed by the Task Force in 1990 and the development of intermediate and advanced seminars. (See also Education: Court Staff, Recommendation #1)
2. The Task Force recommends that law schools include regular courses covering the existence and effects of racial and ethnic bias in the courts, in the legal system and in the profession.
3. The Task Force recommends that the Minority and Justice Commission oversee the development and implementation of all awareness training and education involving racial and ethnic bias in the courts. The Commission’s collective knowledge and expertise would ensure that relevant programs and seminars would be presented to judges, other legal professional, and court staff. (See also Education: Judges, Recommendation #2; Education: Court Staff, Recommendation #3)
Recommendations
1. Based on testimony heard at the 1988 public forums, the Task Force recommends funding from the State Legislature to conduct a series of law-related community seminars, which would include a minority outreach component.
Civil and Family
Findings
1. In general, a study of landlord-tenant cases that went to trial did not show significant differences in the minority and non-minority case outcomes. However, those cases that did not go to trial showed differences in the manner in which those cases were resolved. The study also showed a disproportionately high number of minorities involved in landlord-tenant disputes.
2. In a study of asbestos cases, the case data showed that minorities received lower average settlement amounts than non-minorities. Although this limited study can not be applied to all personal injury cases, it does mean that other personal injury cases may need to be examined to determine if similar results are occurring.
Criminal Justice
Findings
1. Minorities believe that some law enforcement officials tend to treat minority persons with disrespect and engage in offensive behavior toward minority persons.
Findings
1. There is a perception that a lack of uniformity exists in prosecutorial decision-making regarding criminal cases involving minority persons.
2. The majority of county prosecutors do not appear to have specific procedures for filing charges.
Findings
1. There is a perception that in criminal proceedings, minorities receive disparate treatment and harsher sentences despite the guidelines set out in the Sentencing Reform Act.
2. Minorities perceive that they do not have access to rehabilitation programs as readily as non-minority defendants.
3. Based on responses to questionnaires sent to prosecutors and public defenders, it was concluded that systemic institutionalized bias may negatively impact those who lack financial resources, many of whom are minorities.
4. Language and cultural barriers between community corrections officers and minorities may adversely impact the ability of community corrections officers to do adequate presentence investigations, particularly in cases involving non-English speaking minority offenders.
Findings
1. A sample of out-of-custody and in-custody defendants showed that minorities are more likely to be held in custody following conviction and prior to sentencing. Consequently minority defendants are less likely to give positive assistance in the pre-sentence investigation.
Court as
Employer/Appointer
Findings
1. To the extent that minorities are represented in non-judicial court positions, they were concentrated in office/clerical categories.
2. Administrator is one non-judicial job category where minorities were grossly underrepresented. According to a sampling of 21 counties, 11 counties showed that minorities were underrepresented in this position in comparison to their availability in the county workforce.
3. Some courts may have equal employment opportunity statements. Few courts have implemented comprehensive programs designed to increase minority representation through specific policies and procedures, despite the widespread problem of minority underrepresentation.
4. Although many courts indicate that they have an affirmative action policy or adhere to general county policies, it has not resulted in addressing the state court system’s problems with respect to minority employment.
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the State Legislature immediately fund a Workforce Diversity Program for the court system designed to increase the number of minority employees in the court system.
2. In view of the fact that a court wide Workforce Diversity Program may require years to develop and fully implement, the Task Force recommends that all courts consider immediate adoption and implementation of the Task Force’s proposed equal employment opportunity mission statement. This would be a first step in correcting the low number of minority court employees.
3. Given the underrepresentation of minorities as non-judicial court employees, the Task Force recommends that the courts immediately commence development of a Workforce Diversity Program.
4. The Task Force recommends that all presiding judges carefully review their evaluation and selection policies and procedures and develop personnel polices and procedures designed to improve the number of minority bailiffs, law clerks, magistrates, and commissioners.
Findings
1. As
of April 1990, of the 371 judges in the State of
2. In 1988 the percentage of minorities on the bench (about 4%) was slightly less than the percentage of minority lawyers (5%). In 1988 the percentage of minorities on the bench (4%) was substantially less than the percentage of minorities in the general population (about 11%).
3. A
formal judicial screening process exists in
4. With the exception of a minority person serving
on the Washington State Supreme Court and a minority person as a Pierce County
Superior Court Judge, all minority judges serve on courts in
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the State Legislature appropriate funds for the Minority and Justice Commission to develop brochures and to organize seminars to inform potential or interested judicial aspirants about the judicial selection process, the laws and practices concerning fundraising, dictates of the Code of Judicial Conduct, and campaign organization an strategies. The program would include a minority outreach component to ensure that potential minority candidates and the minority public are encouraged to participate.
2. The Task Force recommends that judicial screening committees continue to assure adequate minority representation in their composition.
3. The Task Force recommends that judicial screening committees consider adopting procedures to determine whether a judicial candidate has had cultural awareness training or experience in understanding a culturally diverse community.
4. Appointing authorities are encouraged to continue a judicial selection process which will bring to their attention racial and ethnic minority persons who meet the criteria for appointment.
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the Board for Judicial Administration support proposed legislation to appropriate funds to the Division of Juvenile Rehabilitation of the Department of Social and Health Services for a study to analyze possible disparate treatment of racial and ethnic juveniles in the juvenile justice system.
Recommendations
1. Given the number of complaints received at the public forums and throughout the Task Force’s existence, the Task Force recommends development of a procedure for processing such complaints, perhaps though appointment of an ombudsman. The Task Force also recommends that any proposed procedure be reviewed by the Minority and Justice Commission for its advice and recommendations.
Recommendations
1. The Task Force recommends that the Minority and Justice Commission conduct additional research, which would include:
a. A prosecutor discretion pilot study to examine prosecutorial decision-making and case outcomes involving minority defendants;
b. A bar survey to obtain additional information on the reasons that minority lawyer typically receive less compensation than non-minority lawyers and have limited access to law firms;
c. An update of court demographic survey to collect current statistical data on the racial and ethnic identification of judges and court staff;
d. A trial court project to enhance information presented during educational programs by studying the more subtle forms of bias;
e. A study of policies and procedures in the courts relating to utilization of minorities as consultants, vendors, suppliers, and those under contract with the courts; and
f. A study of court rules to determine whether they inherently result in discrimination against minorities;
2. The Task Force also recommends that the following research be undertaken:
a. A study to determine whether judges set higher bail for minorities compared with non-minorities and if so, why;
b. A study to determine whether prosecutors recommend higher bail for minorities compared with non-minorities and if so, why;
c. A study to determine whether persons who makes screening decisions for amenability for release recommend disparate treatment for minorities and if so, why;
d. A
study to examine the quality of legal representations afforded minority
litigants, particularly in areas of
e. A study to determine the feasibility of public financing of nonpartisan judicial races; and
f. A study of different types of personal injury cases to determine whether minorities receive lower settlement amounts, given the conclusions of the asbestos study which showed that minorities tend to receive lower average settlement.
Findings
1. There is a perception that the criminal justice system provides inadequate protection, access, support, and services to minority victims of crime.
National Center for
State Courts
300 Newport Avenue
Williamsburg, VA 23185
Phone (800)616-6109 Fax (757)564-2022
Questions or Comments - email research@ncsc.dni.us
Copyright © 2004 The National
Center for State Courts. All Rights Reserved.