Prosecutors can reduce disparities by decriminalizing offenses with biased enforcement records

Evidence

Second, prosecutors can advocate for decriminalization of certain offenses. As discussed earlier, in recent years, we have seen a number of prominent prosecutors advocating for the decriminalization of drug possession and prostitution offenses. Prosecutors and their executives should pay particular attention to offense categories that research has shown to trigger greater likelihood of biased disproportionality in arrest, prosecution, and sentencing. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm provided perhaps the best case study for this push for doing the right thing: he stopped prosecuting most drug paraphernalia and prostitution cases in response to the Vera Institute of Justice’s research findings that showed higher probability of prosecution for Black defendants (Toobin, 2015). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 610

Categorization

• XREF: Concrete example of prosecutorial discretion reforms connecting to the broader post-2015 progressive prosecutor movement.