The Nebraska Minority and Justice Task Force Final Report

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Published by The Nebraska Minority and Justice Task Force (2003)

Abstract

In the report that follows, the Nebraska Minority and Justice Task Force finds that minorities are overrepresented as defendants in the criminal and juvenile justice system; minorities are underrepresented in Nebraska’s legal profession and as court employees and jurors; and a substantial portion of the responding public, Nebraska lawyers, and court personnel perceive that bias exists in the Nebraska justice system.

The Task Force concludes that the data available prevent a complete analysis of the under and overrepresentation of minorities and that the findings do not prove or disprove systemic discrimination in the Nebraska justice system based on race and ethnicity. Instead, the Task Force found idiosyncratic factors that may represent barriers to fair and equal access to justice.

Therefore the Task Force recommends that the Nebraska justice system commit itself to a morally searching, permanent, institutional effort to study, address and change those practices and procedures that may disadvantage minorities, whatever the cause of those practices.