The justice system overall needs reform, not just police departments

The national conversation is finally beginning to address the police misconduct that has long plagued communities of color. But the devaluing of black lives is not limited to bad police practices; the laws and procedures that animate criminal court systems across the country are equally at fault.

It begins with children, or, rather, young people whowould be considered children in any other context. They are not old enough to drink alcohol, purchase cigarettes or vote. And the scientific community agrees that their brains are still developing, particularly in the regions responsible for risk management and impulse control; even the Supreme Court has recognized that their unfinished biology makes them inherently less culpable than adults. Yet many states, including Maryland, have “transfer” laws that give prosecutors authority to charge minors accused of certain offenses as adults, stripping these children of their childhoods.

In my jurisdiction, Washington, D.C., there is no opportunity for judicial review of the reasonableness of the charging decision. Prosecutors don’t even need to give a reason. As a result, rather than receiving the rehabilitative services and confidentiality of the juvenile justice system, these adolescents are saddled with adult records, placed in an adult jail and even face mandatory minimum sentences for select offenses. And the overwhelming majority of them are children of color — 80 percent nationwide, according to one Bureau of Justice Statistics report. In the Baltimore region, 85 percent of juveniles charged as adults were black, according to a 2012 analysis by The Baltimore Sun.

The criminal system’s marginalization of black lives continues throughout a case. The Constitution entitles people accused of serious crimes to trials by juries of their peers. In response to the widespread practice of prosecutors removing black people from juries, the Supreme Court has prohibited the striking of jurors based on skin color. But sit through a voir dire in any criminal courtroom, and you will still witness the systematic exclusion of black jurors — with court approval.

Judges routinely ask whether potential jurors have been arrested or interacted with the courts before and, if so, whether they had an experience that would affect their impartiality while listening to police officers’ testimony. Those jurors who have had negative experiences, almost uniformly black and brown, are mostly excused — either “for cause” by the court or through a discretionary strike by the prosecution. The take-away is that these jurors’ perspectives and experiences have no place in court. They do not matter. As a result, black defendants are deprived of juries of their peers. And juries are left without the knowledge and diversity of experience that would lead to more informed and balanced deliberations and, accordingly, fairer trials.

Nor does the criminal system’s disregard for black lives end when the cases do. Criminal records — and their consequences — can last a lifetime. In places like D.C., when a defendant is convicted of a misdemeanor, the conviction is required to remain public for at least eight years from the completion of the sentence. In most cases, if it is a felony, the record is permanent; even if the conviction is decades old and nonviolent, and even if the person seeking to seal his or her record can demonstrate total rehabilitation. Where cases end in dismissal or acquittal, defendants must often still wait years before they are eligible to seal. I have met hundreds of people of color who have lost or been denied jobs and housing because of (often minor, often dated) criminal convictions. Laws that make it impossible to seal their records have deemed their lives irredeemable; their futures do not matter.

The deaths of the now-famed young men of color like Freddie Gray, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling are seared in the public psyche. The need for police reform is starting to get the attention it deserves. But for meaningful progress to occur, we need to change the criminal laws and procedures that devalue the lives of people of color. I listed three examples, but there are many more. Altering them is a necessary step in transitioning from our current criminal system to one that produces real — and equal — justice. Only then will our society become one in which all lives really do matter.