The Urgency of Systems Change: Deconstructing Racially Biased Systems and Other Public Institutions

There is an urgent need for identifying systems and institutions in Jackson that must be examined and deconstructed of its institutional policies and particularly practices that are racially biased and/or demonstratively showing clear indications of either a lack of justice, equity or a lack of community focused interest and concern. This means not only defining root causes as a prelude to “systems change” but too we must adequately explain why its critically important to actively engage in deconstructing inequitable systems and begin replacing persons in positions of leadership and power whose role and/or leadership actively or essentially opposes or is not cooperative in the process of systems change within their institution.

Our civil liberties have always been safeguarded by the power of our voice as a collective democracy. Both political and public leaders are accountable to the constituent community who invests the trust of representing their interests in them by upholding their leadership position. We do so either by voting for them in a public election or by our tacit approval of them by not opposing them at public board meetings of which such public board employs CEOs and other similarly held public leadership roles. In a nutshell, all leadership roles that represent institutions and systems must serve the people all together and when and if those systems and institutions fail to dispense equity and fairness, then both the systems and those leaders maintaining those systems must change!

Identifying Systems in need of Immediate Change in Jackson

While all systems will eventually require an internal and external audit adjustment, often times some systems require urgent and prioritized attention. Some systems become fraught with systemic problems whose harm to others have over peaked. Targeting these systems become priority and the success of us deconstructing them and rebuilding them, is determined on how committed we are to the process of systems change.

Jackson County Legal System

The legal system encompasses law enforcement, prosecutor’s office, criminal and civil courts, the secretary of state, CPS and Foster Care of MDHHS, and probation and parole. Each of these elements are in urgent need of community oversight and an equity analysis. The experiences of black and brown Jackson residents will overwhelmingly and quickly identify these systems as having harmful outcomes for the black community, both described as racially biased and generationally systemic. In other words, being treated discriminatorily by these systems is the norm for black residents. This is supported by an overwhelming body of consistent research and data that confirms black and other minorities receive disparate treatment from and involvement within the wide arching legal system. Research from University of Michigan Law School Professor Sonja Starr in 2012 titled Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice Process: Prosecutors, Judges, and the Effects of UC v. Booker highlighted empirical data of deep rooted racial bias negatively impacting black residents. Such research on a statewide level mirrors the national data. That same data, to degrees lesser or greater, are reflected here in Jackson County.

The recent Crew Report released in August of 2020 identifying the devastating racial disparities of the legal system of Washtenaw County is but the tip of the ice berg of similar disparities across the State, specifically here in Jackson County, where thousands of black youth have been disproportionately arrested and sentenced to lengthy terms after prosecutors have stacked multiple charges on black defendants and exposed them to decades of time in prison. Judges then follow suit by imposing such racially disproportionate sentences. Yet the genesis of the legal system for black and brown defendants starts with law enforcement.

Modern Law enforcement in the United States is historically rooted in former southern slave patrols where white plantation owners would hire bounty hunters to catch runaway slaves. These Bounty hunters organized into patrol stations and those stations became departments and those departments became an institutional system of law enforcement. According to The Law Enforcement Museum, “Organized policing was one of the many types of social controls imposed on enslaved African Americans in the South. Physical and psychological violence took many forms, including an overseer’s brutal whip, the intentional breakup of families, deprivation of food and other necessities, and the private employment of slave catchers to track down runaways.” (Source: Slave Patrols: An Early Form of American Policing. July 10, 2019. https://lawenforcementmuseum.org/2019/07/10/slave-patrols-an-early-form-of-american-policing/)

While the north developed its own system of law enforcement, the antebellum style of southern law enforcement have always maintained an apparent dominance in both policing policies and practices. Those polices and more importantly those practices are seen in the way law enforcement polices black communities. The outcomes are over policed neighborhoods leading to racially biased charges and often physical and violent encounters that end in brutal assaults of citizens or in many cases like Tamir Rice or Alton Sterling and most recently George Floyd. Again, according to the Law Enforcement Museum, “Slave patrols were no less violent in their control of African Americans; they beat and terrorized as well. Their distinction was that they were legally compelled to do so by local authorities. In this sense, it was considered a civic duty—one that in some areas could result in a fine if avoided. In others, patrollers received financial compensation for their work. Typically, slave patrol routines included enforcing curfews, checking travelers for a permission pass, catching those assembling without permission, and preventing any form of organized resistance”. (Source: Slave Patrols: An Early Form of American Policing. July 10, 2019. https://lawenforcementmuseum.org/2019/07/10/slave-patrols-an-early-form-of-american-policing/)

For black Jackson residents, this likelihood is not only a common belief, but a well understood and clearly present reality. Hundreds of black men have been assaulted by JPD over the decades and have had charges embellished, stacked, and even forged. Thereafter upon entry into the court system through formal charges of the prosecutor’s office, black defendants in Jackson have been ushered through a racially biased system that never reaches the merit of justice and equity. This isn’t a new topic for Jackson residents. Over the last decade there has been a series of public forums addressing the stark divide between Jackson Law Enforcement and the black community.

According to an Mlive article on February 13, 2015, “Tense relations between Jackson area law enforcement and the black community are driven by a variety of factors, including lack of diversity at the courthouse and miscommunication on the streets.” (Source: Fear, Distrust at heart of Racial Divide in Jackson, Panel Members Say. https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/2015/02/forum_on_race_relations_and_cr.html)

So who’s at fault in this dichotomy? Although there are various systemic elements involved, there is a clear chain of leadership who can immediately alter the course of these unjust outcomes. It begins with the Chief of Police, who can implement the following:

1) - End policing practices of targeting neighborhoods for patrol

2) - Use all Video footage for every arrest as part of Chain of Evidence available to defendants

3) - Create an Equity Policy in Hiring that aggressively meets diversity goals in hiring patrol officers

4) - Create a Community Oversight committee of citizens

5) - Require Offices to attend Diversity training each year

6) - End Usage of Choke Holds

The Chief has a heavy responsibility in this regard. Over the last 5 years I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside Chief Elmer Hitt in a number of capacities. Chief Hitt is a very open minded law enforcement official and genuinely interested in understanding racial bias within law enforcement. This doesn’t mean however, that he has the capacity to do what is necessary to do in today’s climate of widespread discriminatory policing; to shake up his department, expose the many racist officers on patrol, and those who regularly lie and fabricate or exaggerate evidence. Such practices by JPD is rampant.

Chief Hitt’s capacity may be hindered by the larger “blue code” system that will oppose any genuine efforts to reform law enforcement. It’s going to require a bold and progressive approach that challenges the system face to face. I do not believe Chief Hitt believes this is the optimal approach or that this level of internal law enforcement audit is necessary. This is where we differ. For this reason, we must demand accountability from JPD in holding that system liable and responsible for the continued racial bias in law enforcement that leads to further biases at the next level of the system: the courts.

The next system requiring an audit is the County Administrator and its office, the Courts and Prosecutor, each of whom must work hand in hand to undergo the following:

1) - an equity audit to determine to what extent racial bias is rooted in hiring within each system

2) - an audit of racial bias in criminal arrests, prosecution, sentencing in Jackson County

Within this level of systems change, it must be highlighted the role in which the prosecutor’s office plays in the disparate outcomes of black and brown defendants experiencing system contact with Jackson County criminal courts. Prosecutors essentially control the outcomes of criminal proceedings. The County is responsible for hiring the Assistant Prosecutors who work for the duly elected Chief Prosecutor. Many County prosecutors simply maintain their predecessor’s systemic policies and practices, most of which are but foundational practices of that system, rooted in racial bias and privileged to benefit white residents. This is exacerbated when partisan leadership holds the office while maintaining their party affiliation and its ideology in the administration of their public office. The real life experience of black residents in Jackson with racial profiling and fabricated charges by police officers, in combination with subsequent additional biased prosecution by Jackson County Prosecutor's office, demonstrates how urgent reform is within the legal system and why a conservative elected prosecutor but maintains the same antebellum system of racial bias and discrimination against black and brown residents.

Too many well known black people have been falsely convicted of crimes police officers played a role in its use of false evidence that prosecutors then vigorously used to wrongly convict. The case of Tarik Scott who was wrongly convicted of the well known 2013 Promise Bowl shooting of Shaniqua Hall is a case in point. The key eye witness whose pre-trial testimony was used in her absence at Tarik's trial has since recanted implicating Tarik. Yet Jackson County Prosecutors and Judge McBain allowed this conviction to stand and essentially ignored the new recanted evidence that a jury should hear. Tarik is serving 17-30 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. This is but one example of many.

Current elected County Prosecutor Jerard Jarzynka began working in Jackson County in the prosecutions office in 1986 and has worked in the private sector and been an assistant city attorney. As the elected prosecutor Jarzynka holds the power to immediately order an equity audit and begin learning how historic systems of biased prosecution have negatively impacted black residents in Jackson for decades and in certain instances, have caused innocent people to be wrongly convicted and incarcerated. Hence, an equity audit is essential and will allow Jarzynka to reimagine not only justice in American society, but provide him the opportunity with the tools to assure that prosecution in Jackson County is fair, just and equitable and avoids wrongful convictions at all costs. Far too many wrongful convictions have come out of Jackson County under Jarzynka’s watch. A high number of young black youth are still being disproportionately sentenced to lengthy sentences in comparison to their white counterparts. Jarzynka could end bias in prosecution and bring parity back to our local justice system. If Jarzynka has no interest in discovering racial disparities within his office and acting according to the data, then his resignation must be demanded by the community.

According to American University Washington College of Law Professor of Law Angela J. Davis, “The racial disparities in our criminal justice system are extraordinary and well documented……Much has been written about why the American criminal justice system is so fraught with racial disparity. Some point to discriminatory decision-making by criminal justice officials at each step of the process while others suggest that disproportionate offending is the cause. In fact, there are many complex reasons for this unfortunate phenomenon. Criminal justice officials—including police officers, prosecutors, judges, and corrections officials—make discretionary decisions that often have a racial impact. In addition, the socioeconomic causes of crime disproportionately affect people of color. The impact of the War on Drugs cannot be overstated, and there are undoubtedly many other factors that have contributed to the startling statistics and overwhelming evidence of racial disparity. Not surprisingly, as the causes of the racial disparities in our criminal justice system stem from many sources, so must the solutions. [Legislation and Public Policy. Vol 16:821. In Search of Racial Justice: The Role of The Prosecutor. Davis, Angela. 2013.] (quote from pages 822-823) Source: https://nyujlpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Davis-In-Search-of-Racial-Justice-16nyujlpp821.pdf

Professor Davis goes on to focus her research around the role of Prosecutors as the most powerful official in the criminal justice system. While the Crew Report of Washtenaw County used empirical evidence from recent case dispositions, here in Jackson we do not have researched data on such disparities as of yet. Nevertheless such wide arching disparities nationwide allows us to draw a pre-research opinion about what we will find once the data is retrieved. Racial disparities within systems are not isolated or marginalized. Rather, sweeping systemic racism plagues all facets of American systems, in every City in every State, with or without empirical data, causing the continued wealth gap between whites and blacks. [Systematic Inequality: How America’s Structural Racism Helped Create the Black-White Wealth Gap. Center For American Progress. February 21, 2018.] (Source: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2018/02/21/447051/systematic-inequality/)

Continued poverty among black and brown communities is an intentional result of racism and the effects of systemic discrimination. Such rooted practices allow for the proliferation of black bodies to circulate in and out of the criminal legal system, maintaining a cycle of persistent incarceration and the weakening of black fatherhood and families as a result of the absence incarceration creates. According to the Campaign for Youth Justice, “more than 1.5 million children lack access to their fathers, due to the mass incarceration of, particularly, men of color. This is especially damaging to children of color, as recent research by the National Center for Health Statistics has shown that Black fathers, regardless of their marital status, are more involved in their children’s lives than any other demographic.” [Parental Incarceration: How the Mass Incarceration of Fathers Hurts our Youth. Roemer, Benedict. June 2018.] (Source: http://www.campaignforyouthjustice.org/2018/item/paternal-incarceration-how-the-mass-incarceration-of-fathers-hurts-our-youth)

We are henceforth at a critical crossroad here in the Crossroads of Michigan. Systems change or what the government calls “regime change,” is what is absolutely essential here in Jackson. The vast majority of each system of the Jackson County legal institution must change and its office bearers must be replaced.

In Part 2 I will wrap up The Criminal Legal System by discussing the Jackson County Sheriff Department including its Jail facility, suburban rural township police, such as Blackman and Leoni Township as well as Circuit and Civil Court practices and the experiences of black residents in its interaction with these courts, with emphasis on Child Protective Services and Family Court. This will be followed by Part 3: Social and Human Resource Organizations and Institutions and which systems we will identify, discuss and analyze.

Source References for Part 1

Davis, Angela. Legislation and Public Policy. Vol 16:821. In Search of Racial Justice: The Role of The Prosecutor. 2013

Ghiloni, Theresa. Fear, Distrust at heart of Racial Divide in Jackson, Panel Members Say. Mlive. Advance Local Media LLC. February 12, 2015

Hanks, Angela. Systematic Inequality: How America’s Structural Racism Helped Create the Black-White Wealth Gap. Center For American Progress. February 2018.

Hansen, Chelsea. Slave Patrols: An Early Form of American Policing. The National Law Enforcement Museum. July 10, 2019.

Roemer, Benedict. Parental Incarceration: How the Mass Incarceration of Fathers Hurts our Youth. Roemer, Benedict. Center For Youth Justice. June 2018.

Originally written 2019

About the Author

Hakim Nathaniel Crampton is a justice impacted advocate, author, trainer and award winning spoken word poet. Hakim is a 2018 #LeadingWithConviction graduate, an LPI The Leadership Challenge Coach, a Youth Violence Prevention Specialist, and a recent appointee of Governor Whitmer to a 4 year term as a Commissioner of The Michigan Indigent Defense Commission. Hakim is the creator of the 6 book curriculum series S.L.A.M. Lyrical Education and lives and works in Jackson, Michigan.