Law Commons^™

Crashing The Misdemeanor System, Jenny M. Roberts

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

With “minor crimes” making up more than 75% of state criminal caseloads, the United States faces a misdemeanor crisis. Although mass incarceration continues to plague the nation, the current criminal justice system is faltering under the weight of misdemeanor processing.

Operating under the “broken windows theory,” which claims that public order law enforcement prevents more serious crime, the police send many petty offenses to criminal court. This is so even though the original authors of the theory noted that “[o]rdinarily, no judge or jury ever sees the persons caught up in a dispute over the appropriate level of neighborhood order” …

In Search Of Racial Justice: The Role Of The Prosecutor, Angela J. Davis

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article examines the role of prosecutors in establishing and maintaining racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and examines efforts of the Prosecution and Racial Justice Program of the Ve,:-a Institute of Justice to enact reform within prosecutors' offices. After providing an overview of the debate on causes of such racial disparities generally, the article examines how seemingly race neutral charging and plea-bargaining decisions by prosecutors can actually cause and perpetuate racial disparities. As a model for reforming such practices, the article evaluates and critiques the Prosecution and Racial Justice Program and makes recommendations for how this program can …