PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — On this day, when the nation celebrates the true freedom of formerly enslaved people, the District Attorney’s Office has released a report outlining racial disparities in the city’s criminal court system.
The report, "Racial Injustice Report 2023: Disparities in Philadelphia's Criminal Courts, 2015 - 2022," finds that, from 2015 to 2022, Black defendants were charged at disproportionately higher rates compared to other groups in many categories. The research and analysis comes from the DAO's DATA Lab (DATA stands for "district attorney’s transparency analytics").
The report also shows Hispanic individuals convicted of possessing drugs with intent to distribute, are more likely to be sentenced than Black or white defendants, even with no prior record.
“This is the start of a process. It puts numbers to a problem. It admits that the problem is there. But in no way does it solve it,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner.
“The only way to fix a problem is to measure it. And to put numbers to it. And then to invite in the people who have the answers and those people, our community, and those people, our community leaders, and those people, our elected officials.”
The DATA Lab uses research and data analysis to shape criminal justice policy. The 68-page report is intended to serve as a model to begin identifying systemic problems and working towards change.
The report digs deep and peels back layers of systemic inequities that lead to injustice for people of color in areas including poverty, employment and housing — all of which contribute to Black overrepresentation in arrests and criminal charges.
“You can't fix something thinking that you can read a book, you know?” said Jerome Loach, who runs programs at Eastern State Penitentiary. Loach served over a decade in prison and was recently exonerated.
“And you can’t solve our problems. You got to allow us to sit at the table. And what Eastern State has done is allow me to sit at the table.”
Lorraine Haw with the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration said, “We can write a million reports. And if we don't put action behind it, we're going nowhere.”
She says it’s time to get out of the comfort zone and hit these issues head on.
Will Gonzalez, with Ceiba, a Philadelphia nonprofit that promotes economic development and financial inclusion for the Latino community, says having the data is a smart way to get the ball rolling toward learning how to solve the problem.
“Being smart is about knowledge. And getting data and communicating with people is about engagement and trying to produce solutions that are for the mutual benefit of everyone.”
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