Is Race Tied To Criminal Prosecution?: Santa Clara County Asks

SAN JOSE, CA -- The correlation between prosecutions and someone's race is under cross examination by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

This year, the D.A. has greatly expanded the collected data for the latest “Race and Prosecutions Report” -- the third version of the study's collective.

The report evaluates the relationship between the criminal justice system and a community's population categorized by income, level of inequality, juvenile safety, education and childhood status. The goal is to gain a better understanding of whether there's an inequity and, if so, what should be done about it.

The report found the five Santa Clara County Zip codes with the highest numbers of criminal defendants and the highest incidents of crimes are the ones that suffer from disproportionately high unemployment as well as families and children living below the poverty line.

“Racial disproportionality in our criminal justice system remains a stark and vexing problem. While we do not have a solution for it yet, we are determined to continue to study the issue in hopes to understand it better. One day, we hope to see a system that is as humanly fair and free of bias as possible,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said.

The latest study created through a partnership with a nonprofit organization expanded the race-based data collected on youth crime, victimhood and perception of safety in the community and schools. While most students reported feeling safe in schools, a higher percentage of minority students said they felt less safe than did white students.

Santa Clara County is the largest county in Northern California, with nearly 2 million residents and the highest median income of any California county - ranking it as fourth in the state for employment. Its 15 cities are diverse, with widely different racial compositions. Nonetheless, the county’s wealth is not evenly distributed among and between cities or races, as seen in the study's charts.

The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey shows a county population in 2017 divided by 35 percent Asian/Pacific Islander with a median household income of $128,927; 33 percent White/Caucasian with $118,236; 26 percent Hispanic/Latino with $69,052; and 2 percent Black/African American with $71,493 -- the same percentage of which is categorized as "other" with income at $63,576.

The adult and juvenile population’s top five Zip codes of residence for individuals charged with a crime were: 95020 (Gilroy), 95112 (downtown San Jose), 95111 (southeast San Jose), 95122 (east San Jose) and 95127 (east San Jose/foothills). Through data compiled with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, findings indicates that defendants most commonly reside in poorer, more dangerous and less healthy neighborhoods. Household income in these Zip codes pale in comparison to almost half the county's median of $106,761. Moreover, a high 81 percent among those who live in east San Jose claim crime is at least "somewhat" of a problem for them.

San Jose resident Peter Miron-Conk would agree with the current findings of a direct relationship between criminal justice system and social injustice, given he sees inequitable situations on multiple levels.

"I definitely think there's a strong correlation between the economics, poverty and the similarity of race," he told Patch.

Miron, who serves as a volunteer coordinator for San Jose's Hope Village homeless encampment, sees the inequity first hand. On his personal home front, he also has a homeless, mentally-ill son who falls in and out of custody.

The full-time volunteer has witnessed disparities in the criminal justice system in which minorities are more likely tagged by police officers to be a problem. He believes racism exists.

"Black Lives Matter is a real thing," he said.

Race isn't a sole companion to the criminal justice system. Poverty plays a huge role in how one comes out the other end of an arrest.

"There's no justice. Nothing resembles it -- unless you have significant assets," he said.

Miron claims that the level of poverty even affects a person's plea, with some taking a deal just to get out of the looming bail.

His son has been on the other end of a system deemed flawed by some standards.

"He's not able to function in the criminal justice system. I see how he's treated," he said.

Opening a completely different dimension to tendencies law enforcement sees on the street, many police jurisdictions have developed protocols for answering calls involving the mentally ill.

A retired San Rafael police officer started a business for cities and counties to instruct others in law enforcement of what to do in those circumstances.

More on the Santa Clara County study can be found here https://gallery.mailchimp.com/.