Report: Without Racial Equity, Prosecutorial Diversion Programs Come Up Short
Racial equity in diversion programs can help in some cases, but prosecutors say it can also raise more questions than answers.
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A recent report by the Prosecutorial Performance Indicators project has found that while overall more Black defendants than white were placed in diversion programs in three of four major cities, more white defendants than Black defendants had their felony cases placed in diversion programs in all of the cities, reports Law360. With the data from this report, which compared the race and ethnicity of people placed in diversion programs in four prosecutors’ offices in Chicago, Jacksonville, Milwaukee and Tampa, prosecutors in these offices can use it to guide their policies and prosecutorial decisions.
In Jacksonville, from 2017 through 2019, the number of Black defendants that had their misdemeanor cases diverted from prosecution grew because its prosecutor’s office implemented the KEYS 2 Drive program that gives people charged with misdemeanor traffic violations an opportunity to have charges dropped. The majority of people who have their license suspended over unpaid court fines and fees are Black drivers, resulting in more Black people having their traffic cases diverted to the KEYS 2 Drive program, the report says. However, while prosecutors agreed that data collection helps them to address problems that they otherwise might not have known existed, it also doesn’t necessarily tell them how to fix inherent problems. In Tampa, for example, more white defendants charged with possession of cocaine or cannabis were placed in drug pretrial intervention programs than Black defendants, because intervention programs require participants to have no prior criminal record or only minor convictions, criteria that disproportionately eliminates people of color from these programs because some communities have heavier policing that leads to more arrests.
