Hennepin County Attorney's Office to consider race in plea deals
Starting Monday, prosecutors in Hennepin County are required to consider race when negotiating a plea deal, as outlined in a memo obtained by WCCO.
The memo from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty's office said that "proposed resolutions should consider the person charged as a whole person, including their racial identity and age."
A spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney's Office said in a statement they are trying to address longstanding racial disparities.
"We would neglect our duty of pursuing fair and just outcomes if we pretended these didn't exist," the spokesperson said.
"As I read the statute, I think it's unconstitutional," said University of Minnesota law professor Jill Hasday.
Hasday said the memo is ambiguous.
"The Supreme Court has been crystal clear about its extreme levels of hostility to government policies that consider race," said Hasday.
University of St. Thomas law professor Rachel Moran sees it differently.
"Personally, I think it's an appropriate and constitutionally sound policy," said Moran. "The prosecutor here is saying you should be attentive to racial disparities across your work, so they're not saying give this person a better or worse offer because of their race, that would be problematic."
"This would probably be incredibly unprecedented, I would say, among any prosecutor's office in the United States," said Hamline law professor David Schultz.
With this memo now out, Schultz said Moriarty will have a hard time publicly justifying this decision.
"Even if in the past some law breakers were keyed in on because of their race, I'm not sure she's going to be able to justify why now race should be a mitigating factor, or factor that excuses people's behavior," said Schultz.
