Prosecutor seeks to document, eliminate racial disparities in justice system

By: PAGE IVEY

Scarlett Wilson’s passion for justice is so strong that she is willing to open the process in her office to in-depth scrutiny to ferret out racial disparities in criminal prosecution.

The 9th Circuit solicitor for Charleston and Berkeley counties is working with researchers and other partners to collect data on the impact of such bias. As negative effects are revealed, her office is taking steps to correct them.

Wilson’s efforts are bold, says Jared Fishman, founding executive director of Justice Innovation Lab, one of Wilson’s partners in the research.

“I think she is truly committed to making sure her system is just and fair,” says Fishman, a former federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice’s civil rights division who worked with Wilson on a case involving Walter Scott, an African American man shot and killed by a North Charleston police officer in 2015. “Even with people who are trying to do their best to be fair, to be just, to be unbiased, human nature creates bias and we have an obligation to be internally reflective.”

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