In the American criminal justice system, most of the prosecutors tasked with determining who to indict and who to set free are white men, reported AllGov.com.
According to a new study, the Women Donors Network found that 79 percent of all elected state and local prosecutors in America are white males. However, white men make up only 31 percent of the total United States population. Only 16 percent of prosecutors are white women, while the remaining five percent are minorities.
“What this shows us is that, in the context of a growing crisis that we all recognize in criminal justice in this country, we have a system where incredible power and discretion is concentrated in the hands of one demographic group,” said Brenda Choresi Carter, the study’s lead author.
In some states, all of the elected prosecutors are white males. Those states are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming. AllGov.com also noted that, like black people, Latinos are also underrepresented.
Diversity is an important aspect of any workplace, especially in the field of criminal justice. Without that, the demographic makeup just perpetuates the typical white male point of view. Many times, it’s not sensitive or understanding of the minority perspective.
