A topic long over due in our community!!
Task Force on Racial Disparities Holding Public Hearings in Madison
The next public hearing will be held on April 16, 2009 from 5-7 pm at the Catholic Multi-Cultural Center, 1862 Beld Street, Madison, WI.
Another hearing is scheduled for May 27th, 2009 from 5-7 pm at the Warner Park Community Center, Madison, WI.
The Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System continues to hold public hearings–designed as listening sessions–around Dane County. The Task Force is made up of Dane County citizens working to identify strategies to reduce the racial disparities in Dane County’s criminal justice system, and is staffed by the Dane County Office of Equal Opportunity. The first public hearing was recently held in Sun Prairie on March 16th, 2009. The number of residents attending, spirited discussions, and information received was abundant. The Task Force hopes to continue to hear from a large, diverse group in the upcoming hearings.
Wisconsin has consistently ranked near the top in the nation in its rate in its disproportionate representation of people of color in the criminal justice system. Dane County’s disparities are among the highest in Wisconsin. Racial disparities occur in the number of arrests, cases charged, sentences and probation and parole revocations.
“The task force is charged with looking at the criminal justice system from all angles to ensure no innate bias occurs.” Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said. “That indeed all are treated equally, that the color of one’s skin or width of one’s wallet is not the determining factor in policing, charging and sentencing.”
The Task Force is currently analyzing the reasons for this disparity and crafting recommendations that will allow Dane County to reduce this disparity. The Task Force has individuals from community-based organizations, law enforcement, corrections, and the courts. The Task Force will finish its work this summer by making recommendations to the Dane County Equal Opportunities Commission, County Executive, and the Dane County Board of Supervisors. The recommendations will focus on improvements throughout the criminal justice system.
The task force is made up of individuals from law enforcement, community-based organizations, corrections, and the courts. Co-chair Celia Jackson states, “While we are encouraged by the broad cross section of people that came to the public hearing in Sun Prairie, we recognize that we have a major task ahead of us. It is extremely important that we hear all voices and that the entire community engages in this process with us. We urge everyone to come to the next hearing at the Multicultural Center to share their stories, to listen to their neighbors and to help us identify strategies that will begin to break down these barriers of racial disparity in our criminal justice system. It will require all of us to make the change.”
Contacts: Celia Jackson and Laurie Mlatawou, Co-Chairs, Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System
· Celia Jackson (608) 266-1623 or cell (414) 737-5844
· Laurie Mlatawou (608) 345-5710 or (608) 255-9455
· Colleen Clark Bernhardt, Office of Equal Opportunity (608) 266-3022
