Similar data collection is already being voluntarily conducted by police in San Jose, Calif., and is being sought by legislation in many states, and by H.R. 118, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last March but stalled in the Senate. In addition to monitoring police stops and impounds, our office is also working with a mayoral committee to improve the process for reviewing police misconduct complaints, including helping the public comment on the process. We are reviewing pretrial services interview and release recommendation practices, and we are evaluating the demographics of clients who have been detained for compliance with felony sentencing conditions, many of which involve failure to make payments. There are many opportunities for defenders to examine local policies and practices that have racially disparate impacts. Defenders can collect data, and help clients who wish to file complaints.
Individual cases can lead to systemic challenges.
Most public defenders can recount stories of clients of color who have been stopped, harassed, arrested or convicted based on what appears to be racial bias. We all have had cases where a client charged with resisting or obstructing police eventually is released and charges dismissed when the officer does not appear in court - particularly when we have investigated and are ready to prove that there was no probable cause for the stop or arrest, and have witnesses to the police conduct. A number of local ordinances, those designed to keep people out of parks or off sidewalks for example, can have a racially disparate impact. The pressure of defender caseloads sometimes makes it difficult to imagine challenging systemic injustices while providing each individual client with the best possible defense. But in State v. San Pedro Soto, New Jersey's racial profiling case, the two objectives went hand in hand, thanks to creative and tenacious work by the Gloucester County Public Defender's Office.