A New Paradigm for Fairness: the First National Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts

1.-.- 3 -4185 00322265-I 9 J A New Paradigm for Fairness: The First National Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts , P A New Paradigm for Fairness: The First National Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts H. Clifton Grandy, J.D Edited by Dawn Spinozza I Chuck Campbell National Center for State Courts State Justice Institute t Q 1995 National Center for State Courts ISBN 0-89656- 160-7 National Center Publication Number 'R- 180 These proceedings were prepared and reproduced with finds fiom the State Justice Insti- tute, Grant Number SJI-93- 12A-C-B- 198-P94-( l -3), for the First NationaZ Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts. The points of view expressed are those of the presenters and author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Center for State Courts or the State Justice Institute. Planning Committee Honorable Veronica Simmons McBeth Chair, Planning Committee Los Angeles Municipal Court, California Honorable Benjamin Aranda 111 Dr. Yolande P. Marlow South Bay Municipal Court Project Director, Task Force on Minority California Concerns, New Jersey Marilyn Callaway Honorable Jon J. Mayeda Director, Juvenile Court Services Los Angeles Municipal Court, California San Diego, California Honorable Carl J. Character Joseph A. Myers, Esq. Court of Common Pleas, Cleveland, Ohio Executive Director National Indian Justice Center Honorable Charles R Cloud Rose M. Ochi, Esq. Norfolk General District Court, Virginia Associate Director Office of National Drug Control Policy Honorable Lewis L. Douglass Honorable Charles 2.Smith King’s County Supreme Court, New York Justice, Supreme Court of Washington Dolly M. Gee, Esq. Dr. John H. Stanfield II National Asian Pacific Professor, University of California at Davis American Bar Association, California California Honorable Janice Gradwohl Arline S. Tyler, Esq. Secretary, Board of Directors, Program Manager State Justice Institute Judicial Council of California Honorable Paul J. Liacos Myrna Contreras-Trejo, Esq. Chief Justice, Supreme Judicial Court Yakima, Washington Massachusetts Conference Goals and Objectives The Conference is an action-oriented event that brings together teams from each state’s judlcial branch, the federal judiciary, and the public. Participants will share and exchange information and strategies that will help judicial leaders, court managers, and others to identify racial and ebcbias in the judicial branch and develop innovative strategies for its elimination. Objectives To change the attitudes of judicial leaders toward the existence of bias in the judicial branch To present an analytical framework for understanding how personal, institutional, and systemic racial and ebcbiases operate in the judicial environment To provide a forum to assess the policy and management implications of both the existence and elimination of bias To dorm the conference participants about successful measures taken to eliminate bias from the courts To inspire representatives from each jurisdiction to develop and implement a strategy for eliminating racial and ebcbias from their systems Conference Endorsements Conference of Chief Justices Conference of State Court Administrators National Association for Court Management National Consortium of Task Forces and Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts + American Bar Association Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession National American Indian Court Judges Association National Asian Pacific American Bar Association National Bar Association Judicial Council of the National Bar Association National Conference of Special Court Judges National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges National Judicial College Acknowledgments 1 Introduction vii Major Conference Themes ix Conference Agenda xii Conference Welcome 1 Conference Overview by Judge Veronica Simmons McBeth 2 Remarks by David I. Tevelin 6 Remarks by Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Ji. 7 Keynote Address by Dr. Robert C. Henderson 8 Luncheon Address by Justice ReVius 0. Ortique, Jr. 13 Luncheon Address by Assistant Attorney General Eleanor D. Acheson 19 Case Studies: State and Federal Perspectives 23 State Team Action Planning 27 Public Participants and the Town Hall Forums 28 Racism and Justice: Perceptions and Realities 28 Juveniles in the Justice System 30 Achieving Bias-Free Criminal Proceedings and Laws 32 Concurrent Educational Sessions 35 Establishing and Operating a Commission or Task Force to Study Bias in the Courts 35 Researching the Existence, Extent, and Effects of Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts 36 The Court as Employer: Eliminating Bias in Recruitment and Employment 38 Institutionalizing Change: Translating Findings and Recommendations into Sustained Implementation 41 Staying Vigilant Against Bias: Informal Feedback, Formal Grievance Procedures, and Ethics 43 Diversity Training in the Courts 44 The Impact of Interpreters on Court Proceedings: Protecting , the Rights of Linguistic Minorities 46 Racial and Ethnicity Issues in Criminal Law and in the Criminal Justice Process 49 The Interrelations of State, Tribal, and Federal Courts 54 Achieving a Diverse Jury: And Then What? 58 Juveniles in the Justice System: The Overincarceration of Minority Youth in the Juvenile Justice System 60 Equal Access to the Justice System 63 Conference Closing 67 Documenting Bias in the Judicial System: Are There Any Implications? 67 Conference Update and “Where Do We Go from Here?’ 69 Concluding Remarks by Judge McBeth 72 Appendices 75 Biographical Sketches 77 State Bibliographies 107 Participant List 133 The American judiciary is an honored institution charged with the responsibility of making fair and just determinations about the rights of all people, regardless of their gen- der or their racial or ethnic background. Even though a few state court systems have taken a leadership role in the areas of civil rights within the last ten years, at times exceeding U.S. Supreme Court mandates, it appears that unarticulated or unconscious racism is present in the justice system and that the courts have been inattentive to the need for racial and ethnic diversity. Court bias against ethnic and racial minorities has been addressed by research. Some of these studies are included in the bibliographies in Appendix B. The findings fiom these studies have verified disparities in the treatment of minorities through- out the justice system and suggest that, like the society of which they are a part, the courts bear the marks of centuries of racial and ethnic prejudice. The civil disturbances in 1992 in North American cities following the verdict in People v. Powell stimulated hrther reex- amination and discussion about racial and ethnic bias in the judicial system. This discourse needed to be followed up with action-oriented remedies for the courts because as of the summer of 1993, only 15 state commissions had been formed and only six of these commissions had issued final reports with recommendations. Only three of these six states had progressed to implementing strategies and remedies. In March 1994, the American Bar Association in cooperation with the National Bar Association, the Native American Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Hispanic Na- tional Bar Association convened a meeting to explore racial and ethnic bias in the Ameri- can justice system, the Summit on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Justice System. Thus, the need for the First National Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts (“Conference ’7. For the first time, justices, judges, court administrators, judicial educators, attorneys, and court users gathered to focus on strategies to eliminate racial and ethnic bias in the courts and in the judicial branch. More than 425 participants, including 75 faculty, 270 state team members, 12 chief justices, and several state court administrators, attended the Conference. State teams selected by the chief justices of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico participated in the Conference. Forty representatives fiom the federal judiciary, selected by the chief judges of their respective circuits, participated. In addition to attending Conference sessions, the federal judges and senior federal staff participated in sessions tailored to address the specific issues of the federal system. The states that have established task forces were able to provide guidance and counsel to the states that had not established task forces or that had task forces in the early stages of formation or research. The Conference provided an opportunity for each state’s participants to network and exchange invaluable information to assist them in establishing a task force, refining their research methods, or achieving their task force’s goals and ob- j ectives. I would like to acknowledge those persons and organizations who helped to make the Conference a groundbreaking success. The State Justice Institute (SJI) provided the primary financial support, as well as substantive assistance in planning the agenda. I am appreciative for the generous substantive assistance and the camaraderie of Cheryl D. 1 \ Reynolds, Program Manager. The substantive recommendations of Richard Van Duizend, Deputy Director, were invaluable, as was the ongoing support of David I. Tevelin, Execu- tive Director. When the Conference was still in the proposal stage, we had the support of nu-

Load more