Views from the Bench
| Jurisdiction | Utah,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 11 No. 4 Pg. 38 |
| Pages | 38 |
| Publication year | 1998 |
Utah Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Legal System
Tyrone E. Medley, Judge.
Once upon a time when I was a prosecutor in the Salt Lake County Attorney's Office, I was prosecuting a misdemeanor controlled substance charge in justice court in Midvale. Upon review of the police report the day before trial, I was unable to determine the probable cause basis upon which the defendant was stopped and searched. On the day of trial, I asked the officer why he stopped the defendant and the officer responded, "He (defendant) was Mexican and it was late at night." On another occasion after spending all day prosecuting shoplifting offenses, I hurried home to change clothes to play tennis. Before playing tennis I decided to go to Albertsons to get some lamb chops; food is a major weakness and addiction for me. I entered the store, went to the meat counter, and was unable to find lamb chops. On my way out of the store I approached the cash register area and noticed that I was being followed. When I felt the pursuit was just too close for comfort, I turned and asked, "Are you following me?" The security officer responded, "Don't get smart with me, I'll arrest you here on the spot." To which I replied, "I wish you would arrest me on the spot, I would love to own a piece of Mr. Joe Albertsons grocery store!" Apparently, our voices were elevated, because the security officer's supervisor was hustling around an aisle corner toward us. As the supervisor approached, our eyes met and he recognized me immediately. The supervisor then whispered something in the security officer's ear, the security officer scurried away and the supervisor appropriately and thoroughly apologized for the conduct of his employee. For you see, the supervisor recognized me because he and I had spent the majority of that day together in court prosecuting shoplifting offenses.
When I was 12 years old, I can remember running home one evening because it was past my curfew time and I didn't want to incur the wrath of my grandmother. As I ran by the playground, I heard the wheels of a vehicle come to a screeching stop. As I looked up, a man with a gun pointed directly at me approached quickly and ordered me to halt. It was a frightening moment, one I will never forget, having to stare down the barrel of that gun. When the plainclothes officer realized he had stopped a child, he apologized and stated that a robbery had occurred around the corner and that I should hurry home. I know it sounds silly, but that experience still affects me today. Even though I am an avid runner I have a very difficult time running alone at night. A black man running alone at night, in my experience, equals a suspect. It's no wonder why I couldn't find the humor in a joke told to me by a detective when I was still a prosecutor in the Salt Lake County Attorney's office. The joke went something like this: "Hey, Tyrone, do you know how they solve robberies in Denver?" "The cops go down to the black neighborhood and shoot the first black person running!" After all these years I still can't find the humor in that joke.
These anecdotal experiences are real and very common for people of color. Comparable anecdotal experiences are reported to occur by people of color and others at all levels of the criminal justice system. Do these anecdotal experiences have any implications for our criminal justice system? Are these experiences symptomatic of a criminal justice system that is biased against minorities and people of color? Is Utah's criminal justice system free of racial and ethnic bias? If not, to what extent does racial and ethnic unfairness exist in the system? Is racial and ethnic unfairness reality, or does the system merely suffer from the perception of unfairness? Does the Utah criminal justice system render justice irrespective of race and ethnicity? What is the significance of disproportionate minority representation in the juvenile system, county jails, and the Utah State Prison? Can the quality of justice delivered in our criminal justice system be reliably measured and do we have any obligation to do so? I do not have the answers to these questions. However, the Utah judiciary has joined a national state court movement and has taken a leadership role in establishing the Utah Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Legal System to address these issues. The Task Force will focus on Utah's criminal justice system.
Equal treatment for all persons under the law, irrespective of race or ethnicity is the founding concept of American justice. The Task Force will examine how well this concept is functioning in Utah's criminal justice system. This is a major project, therefore, some historical perspective is in order.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
On August 4, 1994, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of Court Administrators each issued a resolution recommending that each Chief Justice and Court Administrator nationwide appoint a local state team to attend the First National Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts. The resolution also recommended that each Chief Justice and Court Administrator review and consider the recommendations of their respective state teams. In March 1995, the Utah State team, appointed by former Chief Justice Michael D. Zimmerman, attended the First National Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts. Members of the Utah State Team were Judge Robert T. Braithwaite, Fifth District Court; Judge Kay A. Lindsay, Fourth District Juvenile Court; Judge Tyrone E. Medley, Third District Court; Judge William A. Thorne, Third District Court; Judge W Brent West, Second District Court; and Brent M. Johnson, Esq., Administrative Office of the Courts.
The conference was sponsored by the National Center for State Courts and funded by a grant from the State Justice Institute. Many of the most qualified professionals in the nation regarding race and ethnic fairness in the courts were gathered as faculty and presenters, including...
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