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Discussion of race and criminal justice disparities by state Justices stirring debate in Washington

By Douglas A. Berman

Thanks to How Appealing (where there are lots of interesting criminal justice stories covered this morning), I saw this interesting article from The Seattle Timesheadlined "Two state Supreme Court justices stun some listeners with race comments." Here are excerpts: State Supreme Court justices Richard Sanders and James Johnson stunned some participants at a recent court meeting when they said African Americans are overrepresented in the prison population because they commit a disproportionate number of crimes. Both justices disputed the view held by some that racial discrimination plays a significant role in the disparity. Johnson also used the term "poverty pimp," an apparent reference to people who purportedly exploit the poor in the legal system, say those who attended the meeting...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on October 22, 2010 (boomark / email).