Disparities in Cuyahoga County are Focus of Meeting
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Leila Atassi
11/20/2008
Key figures in Cleveland’s and Cuyahoga’s criminal justice system met Wednesday to seek solutions to disturbingly large racial inequalities.
All at the table agreed it is a systemic problem with severe consequences for a community. And all agreed that finding a solution to racial disparities in Cuyahoga County’s criminal justice system is a bigger undertaking than any one of their offices could handle alone.
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The discussion, which took place during a City Council Public Safety Committee meeting, focused on the statistical findings of a Plain Dealer analysis that drew upon hundreds of low-level felony drug cases from 2004 to 2007. The review found that white defendants were 55 percent more likely to get a misdemeanor than black defendants charged with the same crime. And white defendants were 35 percent more likely to receive treatment as an alternative to conviction.
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Stanley Miller, executive director of the NAACP, said the entire system shares the blame for the disparity and likewise should share the responsibility for finding a solution.
“The justice system is broken, and everyone’s trying to point the finger at someone else,” Miller said.
“These types of issues have a very short shelf life. If we don’t address it today, it will pass away from our consciousness.”
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Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty said he and other judges have petitioned the Supreme Court for years for a method by which to keep demographic records of criminal cases on the county docket.
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“But we’re not collecting the critical data that could level the playing field – length of sentences, age, gender, color and socioeconomic aspects. Transparency creates accountability.”