Unequal Treatment: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Miami-Dade Criminal Justice

This report discusses the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in the Miami-Dade County criminal justice system. The authors examined individual and neighborhood level data on all adult defendants from 2010 to 2015 across four decision-making points: arrest, pretrial detention, charging and disposition, and sentencing. The authors conclude that race and ethnicity impact criminal justice system outcomes in Miami-Dade County, resulting in disproportionate representation of Black Hispanics and Black non-Hispanics from arrest to sentencing.

You can read the full text of the report here. 

Key findings

• Relative to their share of the county population, Black defendants who are not Hispanic experience 2.2 times greater rates of arrest, 2.3 times greater rates of pretrial detention, 2.5 times greater rates of conviction, and 2.5 times greater rates of incarceration. 
• Relative to their share of the county population, Black defendants who are Hispanic experience 4.0 times greater rates of arrest, 4.5 times greater rates of pretrial detention, 5.5 times greater rates of conviction, and 6.0 times greater rates of incarceration. 
• Black defendants who are Hispanic are most overrepresented in Miami-Dade County’s criminal justice system. They experience the most punitive outcomes from arrest to sentencing, while White defendants who are not Hispanic experience the least punitive outcomes at almost every decision point in the system.  
• Black defendants, Hispanic and non-Hispanic, are disproportionately arrested and more likely to experience longer periods of detention and greater rates of pretrial detention, conviction, and incarceration than White defendants. 
• Black defendants who are not Hispanic are sentenced to longer prison terms than any other ethnic or racial group. 
• The research shows incarceration rates are concentrated in economically disadvantaged and racially segregated areas.