CALL TO JUSTICE

Background: The Council on Crime and Justice (Council) launched its Racial Disparity Initiative (RDI) in 2000. RDI was designed as a comprehensive, objective analysis of the causes underlying the unacceptably large and nationally unique racial disparity in Minnesota’s criminal justice system. RDI also sought to understand the collateral effects of this disparity; in other words, how the deep intrusion of the criminal justice system into the populations of color played out in the lives of those directly affected, as well as their families and communities, and to what extent these collateral effects might themselves contribute to crime.

With very generous financial support from caring individuals (Mike and Penny Winton, John and Sage Cowles, John and Sheila Morgan) and other leading private and public sources (McKnight Foundation, St. Paul Foundation, Minneapolis Foundation, Bremer Foundation, U. S. Department of Justice, Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Hawthorne Community Council and others), RDI has issued eleven reports on various aspects of the disparity. Five more reports are forthcoming in the next three months.

Nearly all of the studies underlying the reports were undertaken with the assistance of an advisory group typically comprised of community representatives, academics, criminal justice system stakeholders, and individuals with a personal knowledge of the issue under investigation. Nearly all the studies have been the focal point of a community forum. By the very nature of socio-science research, each study focused on a specific issue (e.g., a specific decision point within the criminal justice system). This means, unfortunately, that the interrelationship between the studies has not been fully examined nor have a set of comprehensive action steps been developed.

In order to fully develop the work conducted under the RDI umbrella, the Council proposes to do the following:

• With the assistance of a broadly-based advisory group, the Council will identify the key inter-relationships among the findings in the RDI studies and develop a comprehensive set of specific action steps for the community to undertake.
• The findings and recommendations within the sixteen RDI reports will be compiled into a single, reader-friendly publication highlighting the key inter-relationships and action steps and posted on the Council’s website in a user-friendly format with links to a broad base of information on racial disparities in the justice system.
• The Council will plan and host, in partnership with a wide variety of other organizations, a high-profile “Call to Justice” forum to discuss and determine the exact manner by which the key action steps will be undertaken (what entity(ies) are responsible for doing what, when and how). The forum will be purposefully high-profile with extensive media involvement, starting from the planning phase.

Timeline: Work began in December 2005. The composite publication will be completed in May, 2006, and posted on the website in June. The Call-to-Justice forum will take place on June 28th, 2006.