AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Court System Faces A Perception Of Bias Against Blacks

Week in and week out, one thing never changes about the people led
into Jackson County Courthouse in shackles.

Too often to make statistical sense, they are black people.

The plain truth is that blacks are more likely than whites to be
arrested and sent to prison, a truth that fuels distrust of the
justice system.

"I don't think there is a black mother or father who does not think
their child has been improperly treated at some time," said George
Lyons, a black defense lawyer.

Eight percent of Jackson County's population is black, but blacks
account for three of every 10 people arrested for serious crimes.

Uniform Crime Reports for Jackson County show 28 percent of suspects
arrested for serious crimes were black in both 1997 and 1998. That
rate rose to 31 percent in 1999.

Conviction and arrest rates are similar enough to suggest no great
difference in what black and white defendants can expect when courts
determine guilt or innocence.

In 1999, 30.7 percent of defendants convicted of felonies in Jackson
County were black, according to the Michigan Department of
Corrections.

After conviction, however, there is again a difference for black and
white defendants.

Of 549 white people convicted of felonies in 1999, 38.6 percent were
sentenced to hard time in state prisons.

Of 250 blacks convicted of felonies that same year, 44.4 percent were
sentenced to prison.

The most lenient punishment, delayed or suspended sentences, was
given to 6.4 percent of white defendants and 3.2 percent of blacks.
White males were four times more likely than black males to receive
suspended sentences.

To what degree racism fuels higher arrest and prison rates for blacks
is a matter of debate.

"I do not feel the system is racist," said the Rev. Ira Combs of
Greater Bible Way Temple. Combs, who is black, ran a short-lived
residential center for convicted felons in Jackson and is a reserve
officer with the Jackson Police Department.

"I am certain there are racist people in the system. But my
experience has been that the courts have always been willing to work
with individuals charged with a crime if they have positive supports
in the community."

Black people are more likely to be arrested, Combs said, because they
are more likely to commit crimes. He does not blame racism or poverty.

"Back in the '50s, racism and poverty were far more pervasive than
they are now," Combs said.

"The difference today is the breakdown of the family. There has to be
something done to reverse the degeneration of the family structure in
the African-American community," Combs said.

Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney John McBain, who is white, called
the high arrest and prison rates for blacks "a multi-faceted societal
problem."

"The reasons are very complicated," McBain said. "There is not any one reason."

He cited crack cocaine as one significant factor.

"Eight out of 10 crimes we prosecute in this office are directly or
indirectly related to drugs," McBain said.

"I don't think there are many minority leaders who would dispute the
fact that crack cocaine has a disproportionate impact on the minority
population," McBain said. "It is a major part of a generation lost to
drug addiction and crime."Drugs are an important factor in
incarceration rates, but evidence suggests that blacks are treated
more harshly than whites.

Black Americans use illegal drugs at a marginally higher rate than do
whites, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. For people 12 and older, the rate in 1995 was 7.9 percent
for blacks and 6 percent for whites.

Because the white population is much larger, far more white people
use illegal drugs (19.1 million) than do black people (3.3 million).
But far more black people are arrested and sent to prison.

Nationwide, blacks constituted 62.6 percent of drug offenders
admitted to prisons in 1996, according to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics. Whites constituted 36.7 percent. In Michigan, that ratio
was even more lopsided, 76 percent black to 23 percent white.

Statistics like that led the Human Rights Watch organization to
conclude that American drug enforcement is aimed mostly at blacks.

"Contrary to public belief, the higher arrest rates of black drug
offenders do not reflect higher rates of drug-law violations,"
according to Human Rights Watch.

"Whites, in fact, commit more drug crimes than blacks. But the war on
drugs has been waged in ways that have had the foreseeable
consequence of disproportionately targeting black drug offenders."

Brunetta Brandy, a black lawyer who is Lyons' partner, believes
police target blacks for arrest.

"If you are going to have justice, you have to start on the street,"
Brandy said.

Lyons agreed.

"The African American, I am clear, does not get a fair shake from the
police officer," Lyons said. "That's what puts them in the hopper (of
the court system)."

Once they are "in the hopper," black defendants in Jackson typically
have disadvantages compared to white ones, Lyons said.

Blacks are less likely to afford a good lawyer, he said. Blacks are
likely to be judged by all-white juries. And blacks sometimes seem to
have more difficulty getting a good plea-bargain deal.

All of that, Lyons said, is the same across Michigan and the United States.

"It's unfair to microanalyze Jackson," Lyons said. "This is an
American problem."

That blacks are more likely than whites to be sent to prison is
difficult to attribute to discrimination by judges.

Sentencing power of judges has been limited for two decades by race-
neutral sentencing guidelines imposed by Michigan law.

Guidelines were invented, in part, to make sure a racist judge cannot
be harsher on blacks than whites.

"I certainly don't think there is any judge who attaches a racial
lens to sentencing," said McBain. "I've never seen anything like
that."

Combs said a defendant of any color can expect a stiff sentence if he
has a bad record, no job and no family or church support.

Again blaming the breakdown of families, Combs said black criminals
are more likely to fall into that category. He calls it a moral and
spiritual crisis.

"Clergy have failed the community miserably. Clergy has failed to be
a moral voice of our community," Combs said.

Brandy did not accuse judges of racism in sentencing but she is
convinced the system works against the poor, black defendants who
account for a disproportionate number of cases.

"If you are underemployed, black and commit a crime do you get
justice? The answer, resoundingly, is no," she said.