Prosecutors embrace a color-blind approach to prosecution, highlights need for cultural rescripting in prosecution

A recent discover explored how prosecutors imagine dash in criminal justice, providing tips of learn the approach to interrupt the coloration-blind approach to prosecution that would perhaps perchance entrench racial disparities. The discover came right by that prosecutors broadly argue that dash would perhaps perchance perhaps composed not be regarded as when processing cases.

Conducted by a researcher at Florida World University (FIU), the discover is drawing close within the American Society of Criminology’s journal Criminology.

“Coloration-blindness is one half of a actually solid and cohesive prosecutorial tradition,” says Rebecca Dunlea, an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at FIU and the author of the discover. “Getting prosecutors to hunt down themselves as share of the resolution to racial disparities would require altering their views on learn the approach to approach dash, however this is capable of perchance perhaps also require that they reevaluate other core beliefs about how they hold their work and hold justice.”

Coloration-blindness does not address racial disparities, and would perhaps perchance perhaps even aggravate them by asserting insurance policies and practices that are facially dash-neutral however disproportionately damage other folks of color. Some students argue that colorblindness in criminal justice has finished more damage than accurate.

Based completely on interviews with 47 prosecutors from Jacksonville and Tampa, Florida, in 2018, the discover came right by that they broadly embraced a color-blind approach to processing cases. Interviewees consistently mentioned they believed that primarily the most productive approach to address these disparities change into as soon as to not take into accout the dash of defendants, victims, or witnesses when making case choices.

Give a rob to for the coloration-blind approach change into as soon as informal and in style, the discover came right by, with prosecutors pronouncing they worked to seem dash-neutral, denying the synthetic of discrimination in their areas of work. Prosecutors of color looked as if it would perhaps perchance perhaps toughen the coloration-blind approach as much as their White counterparts.

This color-blind approach is bolstered by other scripts deeply embedded in prosecutorial tradition, such as “every case is peculiar,” “poverty and tradition reputation off crime,” and “we most productive prosecute what the police ship to us,” the discover came right by. All these apparently dash-neutral scripts are mild by prosecutors to interpret the rejection of their role in reforms that purpose racial disparities in criminal justice.

Supplied by
American Society of Criminology