Gender and Race in the Justice System: Groundbreaking Studies Released in Washington State
“The legal community must recognize that we all bear responsibility for this on-going injustice, and that we are capable of taking steps to address it, if only we have the courage and the will. The injustice still plaguing our country has its roots in the individual and collective actions of many, and it cannot be addressed without the individual and collective actions of us all.” — Washington State Supreme Court open letter to the judiciary and legal community, June 4, 2020
Experiences and outcomes in the Washington State judicial system are impacted by gender and race. These are the conclusions of two reports released in September. One is a groundbreaking gender justice study by the Gender and Justice Commission. The other is a report to the Washington Supreme Court by the Task Force on Race & Washington’s Criminal Justice System 2.0 that builds on work done by an earlier version of the Task Force.
The Gender and Justice Commission report is the result of a three year undertaking that includes data from legal and social science sources. The report introduces pilot projects that were conducted to fill research gaps identified during the course of the study and makes recommendations to stakeholders, the legislature, and the courts for how to address the findings. These findings were grim and indicate that gender “affect[s] the treatment of court users (including litigants, lawyers, witnesses, jurors, and employees)” and the most severely affected are women of color, women in poverty, and LGBTQ+ people.
King5 reported:
Among the findings in the study: high court costs and mandatory, in-person court appearances impact single mothers the most, especially those who live in poverty. The study found that while incarceration rates are declining for men, they’re on the rise for women. The study also revealed Black, Indigenous, and women of color face prison sentences two to eight times as long as white women convicted of the same crime.
The Gender and Justice Commission’s Chair, Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud, expressed that while the findings were an “eye-opener” for her, they would not be a surprise to the women (and particularly women of color) who frequently experience disparate treatment in the criminal justice system.
The study and its important findings were recognized by many in the legal community. ABA Journal reported on the study’s recommendations:
One of the report’s recommendations is to improve access to court by adopting more flexible hours, expanding remote access, reducing language barriers and increasing access to legal help. Another recommendation is to reduce reliance on court user fees.
Other recommendations are to address the increase in convictions and detentions; to identify the evidence-based best curricula for judicial and legal education on gender and race bias; and to improve data collection on topics covered in the report.
The new report seeks to continue work completed in 1989. The 1989 study and final report led to significant changes in the system at the judicial and legislative levels. Despite this, the 2021 report shows that there is still much work to be done to address inequality. In a Washington Courts press release it was noted that”[b]oth studies have been among the first of their kind in the nation.”
Following the release of the Gender Justice Study, the Task Force on Race & Washington’s Criminal Justice System 2.0, launched by Washington’s three law school deans, released its own report detailing how historically racist laws and practices have resulted in disproportionate outcomes for people of color in Washington’s criminal justice system.
The Washington Courts press release announcing the presentation of findings noted:
The Task Force report examines data on policing, prosecutorial decision-making, pre-trial release, sentences, incarceration, Legal Financial Obligations (court fines and fees), driver license suspensions, community supervision and reentry from incarceration, and more. The study also addresses the extensive impacts of contact with the criminal justice system on people’s mental and physical health, families, future employment, housing, and more.
Among other determinations, the Task Force 2.0 found that Indigenous people are killed by law enforcement at more than three times the rate of non-Hispanic White people and incarcerated at higher rates as well. Felony conviction rates of Black defendants were more than double those of Whites, and they often served disproportionate sentences as well. The report also noted that there is a lack of consistent data collection on Latinas/os in the criminal justice system.
The findings of their 237 page report were presented to the Supreme Court in a three hour presentation in September, which can be viewed in its entirety here. The Task Force was created in direct response to the Washington Supreme Court’s letter on June 4, 2020, and is a continuation of the work started by the first Task Force, formed in 2010 following comments made by two Justices at that time. As in the earlier Task Force 1.0 study, it was found that “facially neutral policies and bias continue to operate to contribute significantly to the observed disproportionalities.”
To review the findings of the Gender Bias Study, including the full report, executive summary and fact sheet (available in six languages), click here. To view the full report of the Task Force 2.0, click here. The Task Force 2.0 Recommendations Working Group will issue their recommendations in the near future. Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven González also recently discussed the Gender Bias Study, along with the Court’s efforts to address the issues mentioned in both studies in an interview with TVW.
For further research on gender, race, and the justice system, you may want to check out the following blog posts from the Washington State Law Library:
Race and the Justice System: Media and Resource Guides
Just Mercy — A Book Review and Reading List
The Financial Impact of Criminal Charges — An Unequal Debt to Society (Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three)
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools — A Book Review
New Book Preview — Part One: Social and Racial Justice
A Legislature Working Towards Equity — A Summary of 2021 Legislation
Historic Police Reform in Washington — A Summary of 2021 Legislation
Unintentionally Complicit — Viewing Incarceration Through the Lens of “Caste”
Diversity in the Legal Profession: A Problem that Persists (Part One) (Part Two)
Pre-Trial Risk Assessment Tools and Bias: Trends and Resources
They Can’t Kill Us All: A Book Review
New Books: Criminal, Juvenile, and Social Justice Titles (LE)
