IV. CONCLUSION
A time comes when silence is betrayal.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967
There is a problem in our justice system.
In this Report, we find that race and racial bias affect outcomes in the criminal justice system and matter in ways that are not fair, that increase disparity in incarceration rates, that do not advance legitimate public safety objectives, and that undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system. We have presented evidence of racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparities in the criminal justice system. Arrest and conviction rates do not correlate precisely with criminal behavior rates and cannot serve as a proxy for criminality. Much of the disproportionality cannot be explained by legitimate race-neutral factors.
Put simply, we have found disparity and mistrust. Together, we must fix it for the sake of our democracy.
Our democracy is based on the rule of law and faith in the fairness of the justice system. This faith is undermined by disparity and by high-profile incidents of violence toward people of color by law enforcement. The problem is not a people of color problem. It is our problem as a society to address.
We, the Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System, are devoted to reducing racial disparity in the justice system. Existence would be intolerable were we never to dream. We dream of completely eliminating bias in criminal, civil, juvenile, and family law matters. But there is a long history of overpromising and underdelivering. We ask that you join us with energy and goodwill, so we are not added to this list of failures. We prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom from those who purport to know better.
We ask that you trust only action because progress happens at the level of events, not of words. Please join our effort to address bias in the justice system at every level. We have hope because we are united and committed to working collaboratively despite our differences. We celebrate the efforts of this Task Force to work together to build a community based on trust, equality, and respect.
