Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System Preliminary Report on Race and Washington‘s Criminal Justice System Research Working Group A Publication by the Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System Copyright © 2011 Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System c/o Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality Seattle University School of Law 910 12th Avenue, Sullivan Hall, P.O. Box 222000, Seattle, Washington 98122-1090 Phone: 206.398.4283 Email:
[email protected] Web Site: www.law.seattleu.edu/x8777.xml Message from the Task Force Co-Chairs Chief Justice Madsen, Justices of the Washington Supreme Court, Governors of the Washington State Bar Association and the Access to Justice Board, leaders of Washington‘s Specialty Bar Associations, and the people of the great state of Washington: We are pleased to present the Preliminary Report on Race and Washington’s Criminal Justice System, authored by the Research Working Group of the Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System. The Research Working Group‘s mandate was to investigate disproportionalities in the criminal justice system and, where disproportionalities existed, to investigate possible causes. This fact-based inquiry was designed to serve as a basis for making recommendations for changes to promote fairness, reduce disparity, ensure legitimate public safety objectives, and instill public confidence in our criminal justice system. The Task Force came into being after a group of us met to discuss remarks on race and crime reportedly made by two sitting justices on the Washington Supreme Court. This first meeting was attended by representatives from the Washington State Bar Association, the Washington State Access to Justice Board, the commissions on Minority and Justice and Gender and Justice, and all three Washington law schools, as well as leaders from nearly all of the state‘s specialty bar associations, and other leaders from the community and the bar.