FLORIDA SUPREME COURT RACIAL AND ETHNIC BIAS STUDY COMMISSION, WHERE THE INJURED FLY FOR JUSTICE: REFORMING PRACTICES WHICH IMPEDE THE DISPENSATION OF JUSTICE TO MINORITIES IN FLORIDA, DEC. 11, 1991
The Legislature, through the joint efforts of the criminal justice and corrections committees of the House and Senate,...should immediately undertake a review of those cases prosecuted under both mandatory minimum statutes and the “habitual offender” statute to determine the effect of race or ethnicity in their selection, processing, or ultimate disposition. To the extent that improper considerations are playing a role, the Legislature should repeal these statutes altogether.
The Florida Legislature should require, as a condition of funding, that each State Attorney: a) promulgate effective criteria which ensure the fair and equal exposure of individuals to processing under mandatory minimum statutes; and b) annually submit a report to the legislative appropriations committees detailing the racial/ethnic composition of all individuals prosecuted under these statutes. To the extent that such reports reveal racial/ethnic disparities in the population of individuals who are prosecuted under these statutes, the Legislature should require a detailed justification for the impact of prosecutorial decision-making in this area.
