Public Notice Detail

ST. PAUL, MN (Aug. 29, 2003) -- The Minnesota Judicial Branch has released the first summary from its race data collection project in an effort to ensure judicial system accountability to all persons.

This summary details adult major criminal court filings in 2002 by race. Since mid-2001, the Minnesota Judicial Branch has collected self-reported race information at the first appearance in criminal, juvenile and traffic cases. Minnesota courts are the first in the country to have an ongoing, statewide self-reported race data collection project.

"The Minnesota state court system understands that we cannot begin to determine if and where bias or disparate treatment exists nor can we address problems of bias without hard data," said Chief Justice Kathleen A. Blatz. "Having reliable information is important to people in the community and the courts. The Judiciary is committed to making the race data collection project a permanent step in the court process so we can watch trends over time, examine the impact of new legislation and other factors related to people of color in the justice system, and move us from anecdotes to empirical evidence and from empirical evidence to action."

While the race data summary reported today includes only filing information, future reports will look at subsequent stages of the court process, including disposition and sentencing. These reports will be generated as the criminal and juvenile cases that were filed in 2002 are fully processed to final disposition.

The race data collection project was a recommendation of the Minnesota Supreme Court Implementation Committee on Multicultural Diversity and Racial Fairness in the Courts. This committee will examine the race data on an ongoing basis to review areas where the data shows a disparity, to determine the cause of the disparity and to recommend changes where problems are revealed.

District Court Judge J. Thomas Mott, Chair of the Conference of Chief Judges said, "Although the question of whether there is bias in the court system cannot be answered by looking at the court's filing data, the data in this report represents a significant step forward. This data will help identify potential areas of concern for further evaluation. We are committed to assuring that the court treats everyone fairly regardless of race, ethnicity or gender."

Tom Johnson, President of the Council on Crime and Justice, said, "The court data will be an important addition to the research projects conducted by our Racial Disparity Initiative. We will be able to study the justice system from arrests, to prosecutions to sentencing. This will help provide a much more complete picture."

Download the case study in Adobe PDF format:
Adult Major Criminal Case Filings By Race and Ethnicity
(030829_Race_Data_Summary_2002_Filings.pdf)