Court Opinion

ID: 9877063
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-27 15:45:37.164325+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:47:17.800458
License: Public Domain

*830WIGGINS, Justice
(concurring specially).
I join the majority opinion; however, I feel compelled to write separately on the issues of implicit bias and racial disparity in Iowa. A recent report by The Sentencing Project found 25.8% of Iowa's prison population was black, while blacks made up only 3.1% of Iowa’s population. Ashley Nellis, The Color of Justice: Racial ■ and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons 16 (2016) [hereinafter Nellis]. The same report found the black to white incarceration ratio in Iowa’s prisons was 11 to 1. Id. at 17. These statistics reveal that Iowa is one of the worst states in the country when it comes to racial disparity regarding.imprisonment. Id. at 16-17. These numbers are shameful, and I believe much of the cause for these alarming statistics is due to implicit bias against blacks in Iowa.12
I agree with the majority statement, “We strongly encourage district courts- to be proactive about addressing implicit bias.” In furtherance of that encouragement, I would require judges to give an implicit-bias instruction in every case where counsel requests one and implicit bias may haye an effect on a jury. .
■Due to the disgraceful disparity in the punishment and incarceration between blacks and whites, we should not wait for further research and study on the issue of implicit bias and racial disparity. The demand for justice to our black citizens does not allow for further stalling. A defendant and his or her counsel are in the best position to know whether the circumstances of the present case warrant an implicit-bias instruction. A defendant arid his or her counsel are also in the best position to determine whether instructing jurors on implicit bias may lead to a better outcome or not, •
In the future when á defendant requests an implicit-bias instruction and implicit bias may have' an effect on a jury, there is no reason for ⅛⅛ court not to instruct the jury on implicit bias. See Sonnek v. Warren, 522 N.W.2d 45, 47 (Iowa 1994).
Cady, C.J., and Áppel, J., join this special concurrence.

. The same report finds the rates for Hispanic disparity are much different. In 2014, 6,9% of Iowa's prison population was Hispanic, while Hispanics made up 5.5% of Iowa's population, Nellis, at 16. The same report found the Hispanic to white incarceration ratio in Iowa’s prisons was 1.7 to 1. Id. at 17. Although the Hispanic to' white disparity is better than the black to white disparity in Iowa, it could be better.