New report highlights major bias in US criminal justice system

Take a look around you.See that African American person over there? In Allegheny County, that person is, in general, five times more likely to be criminally charged than a White person.Oh, there’s more, according to a study released in December 2023 by former Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald and the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Politics.When criminal charges are filed against a person in the county, African Americans are convicted of a felony at nearly twice the rate (9.7 percent to 5.4 percent) as Whites.Overall, the Allegheny County Jail is filled with African Americans, the report, which studied data from 2017 to 2019, found, while the county as a whole is filled with, well, Whites. Blacks comprise just 13 percent of Allegheny County, but comprise 66 percent of the jail.The study, which was conducted by the RAND Corporation and RTI International, showed how African Americans have the odds stacked against them in the early stages of the criminal justice process, which contributes to the disproportionate number of African Americans actually inside the jail.“Among those charged with a crime, Black individuals are 18 percentage points more likely than White individuals to be arrested versus receiving a summons,” the report, obtained...