Report finds racial disparities in Allegheny County criminal justice system

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A new report is highlighting the racial disparities in the Allegheny County criminal justice system.

The University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics, the Allegheny County executive, RAND Corporation and RTI International worked together to look at racial disparities in Allegheny County.

The study, called "Creating a Path Forward to Reduce Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System in Allegheny County," was released Tuesday.

The report found that Black people are more likely to have criminal charges filed against them, serve pretrial detention, be convicted of a felony, serve a confinement sentence, have new charges filed against them and have their probation sentence revoked.

"This is not a gotcha report, this is a study that was undertaken in partnership with the criminal justice system, where our partners in the criminal justice system voluntarily turned over their data," said Frederick Thieman.

The report looked at criminal charges filed between 2017 and 2019 in Allegheny County. However, only the city data provided the detailed information necessary for examining connections between specific policing practices and disparities.

Within the city of Pittsburgh, 5.8% of Black residents are charged with a criminal offense each year, while 1.3% of white residents are charged.

When asked what role racial bias plays, Chief Larry Scirotto said, "We teach our officers with great care and intention about implicit bias and that conversation is ongoing with our officers."

Researchers of the study put forth 29 recommendations to address the disparities at every level. Some include prioritizing prevention, race-blinding paperwork provided to judges, increasing transparency, representation at bail hearings, more transparency and encouraging the use of citations.