Black Lives Matter. Colin Kaepernick and Malcolm Jenkins. Starbucks’ restrooms. Meek Mill. “13th.” “Just Mercy,” “White Rage,” “The New Jim Crow.” The New York Times’ ”1619 Project.”
It’s impossible these days not to be thinking about implicit (and explicit) bias and the wide discretion exercised by all actors at all levels in our criminal justice system. This is a very big issue for Pennsylvania: our state ranks among the highest in the country for criminal prosecutions commenced, people incarcerated in jails and prisons, people under “carceral control” (probation and parole) and citizens who have fully completed their sentences.