Message from Governor Cooper

As explained last week, COVID-19 is shining a bright light on long standing racial inequities in everything from healthcare to housing. The protests reignited by the murder of George Floyd are shining yet another light on inequities in the criminal justice system.

George Floyd was not the first victim of excessive force. Too many other people of color have been harassed, harmed, injured or killed. Added together, their lives and their stories have made this spotlight too bright to ignore. For African Americans, the past several weeks have again ripped open scars created by generations of historical trauma. Too often that trauma was inflicted by a criminal justice system that should have protected them but instead treated them unfairly.

Data show that, nationwide, communities of color are disproportionately affected at all stages of the criminal justice system. Black adults are almost six times more likely to be incarcerated than white adults and black men are two and a half times more likely to be killed by law enforcement. Hispanic adults are three times more likely to be incarcerated than white adults. When convicted of the same crime, black men receive a prison sentence that is 20% longer than white men. Black women are in prison at twice the rate of white women, and 1 and a half times more likely to be killed by law enforcement.

These numbers are stark. The data tell a story that black Americans have been living and telling us every day even when there is no spotlight. It's important for us to recognize these numbers and identify the disparities, but it is even more important and challenging to actually do something about it. 

Today governor signed Executive Order Number 145 to establish the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity and Criminal Justice. It will be led by North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls and Attorney General, Josh Stein.

A lot of the issues the task force will tackle have been researched and studied. Part of the job of the task force will be tailoring these ideas to North Carolina and developing a strategy on how to get the proposals implemented. The task force is just the beginning.

Taking on issues of race and discrimination is often difficult and uncomfortable. Truth can be hard. That's why the state needs everyone: local governments, police departments, sheriffs, judges, prosecutors, civil rights leaders, legislators, and community members to weigh in and be committed to real change.

To begin taking action in state government, the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety, Eric Cooks, has directed all state law enforcement agencies under the department to ensure they have a clear duty to intervene policy. That means they see a fellow officer doing wrong, they must step in. 

Sec. Cooks also directed these agencies to review their existing policies. Those include arrest procedures, what kind of interactions require the use of force, and more importantly which don't. It also includes how to prioritize de-escalation so they calm a situation rather than accelerate it.

This review, along with recommendations of the task force, will determine changes that need to be made to ensure that the state law enforcement agencies are providing equitable high quality service while prioritizing the safety of all North Carolinians. 

It is critical that the state law enforcement be leaders in repairing this breach. Law enforcement officers have a tough job. So many of them are doing their best to protect and serve with fairness.

Many of them now are telling, recognizing and acknowledging that systemic and cultural changes must be made. They know that for the law enforcement and criminal justice systems to work, people have to have faith and trust in them.

There are people who work in our court system who know that changes must be made there as well.

The state has to work better to rebuild systems that better strive to eliminate racism and bias. This will not be easy. It will require listening to some hard truths to better understand each other and a commitment to work together in good faith. 

Message from North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls

Last Tuesday Chief Justice Cheri Beasley held a press conference to talk about how justice intersects with the protests that are occurring around the state. She acknowledged that racial disparities continue in the court system and in the criminal justice system. She also called upon us to develop a plan for accountability in the courts.

We must change how the criminal justice system operates and without delay. We must eliminate the glaring racial disparities that continue to exist and we must begin to live up to our most highly cherished value of equal justice under the law.

After all, we're the state that espouses the creed, "To Be Rather Than to Seem."

A recent poll found that 88% of Americans favor training police officers to de-escalate and avoid using force. 87% favor body cameras for all officers. 80% favor implementing an early warning system to identify problem police officers. 67% favor barring the use of chokeholds.

Americans favor change but whatever the opinion polls might show, I bring an additional perspective as a black woman whose husband, who's also black, was once approached by police with their guns drawn as he was sitting in his car stopped by the side of the road and talking to me on his cell phone.

I come to this work as a lawyer who has represented families of victims of police shootings and other excessive use of force in the 1990s before there were cell phones with video cameras.

I come to this as a lawyer who has represented black and Latino police officers in employment discrimination cases.

Now, as a member of the judiciary. I am charged with upholding your constitutional rights, whether doing so is popular or not. I know that real change is long overdue and must come now.

Our state courts are an integral part of the criminal justice system, any effective effort to address racism in that system must include what happens in the courts, certainly in a democracy.

It is true that the people are more powerful than the people in power. I asked you to help us ensure that this task force makes sound recommendations for meaningful and lasting institutional change in order to achieve racial equity in North Carolina's criminal justice system.