A newly released report from the Center of the American Experiment (CAE) challenges the narrative that Minnesota’s criminal justice system is racially biased against black offenders.
According to the report, titled “Case Closed: Minnesota’s Offender Outcomes Devoid of Racial Bias,” black offenders reportedly face “more favorable” treatment in the system compared to white offenders across various stages, including incarceration.
Authored by David Zimmer, a policy fellow with CAE and a former captain with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the report analyzed 2022 crime data from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
The report states that white offenders were “1.7 times (70 percent) more likely to be arrested than black offenders for all crimes committed” in 2022. Additionally, the CAE analysis says white offenders were “more likely to be charged with a serious offense than black offenders” and were more likely to receive a pronounced prison sentence in most cases involving “serious offenses.”
“If the criminal justice system was treating black Minnesotans unjustly, then the 11:1, black-to-white offender ratio for serious offense rates would have worsened as black offenders traversed through the system. It did not,” says the report. “In fact, the data showed that not only did the ratio not worsen, but in most categories the ratios were more favorable to black offenders than white offenders.”
According to report, white offenders facing “more certain and more punitive outcomes” than black offenders may be the partial result of the criminal justice system attempting to respond to the fact that “Black Minnesotans commit a grossly disproportionate amount of crime.”
However, the report also noted that black offenders serving prison sentences for serious crimes in 2022 averaged 76.56 months compared to 66.34 months for white offenders. Zimmer attributed this 10.22-month difference to behavioral factors, not race.
The report found that black offenders averaged higher placement in Minnesota Sentencing Guideline grids relating to offense severity and criminal history. Even a single-point increase on those scales can increase incarceration terms considerably. Additionally, the report said that black offenders were 3.7 times more likely to use a dangerous weapon or possess a firearm, which triggered mandatory minimum sentences.
The report concluded that these criteria logically explain the difference, as they reflect behavior differences rather than racial bias.
“Good public policy depends on a clear-eyed view of data, and the data in this report shows there are no unwarranted racial disparities in Minnesota’s criminal justice system when it comes to serious crimes,” said Zimmer when the report was released. “Dispelling this myth will lead to better safety outcomes for all Minnesotans, especially law-abiding black citizens who suffer from above-average victimization rates.”
The report also critiqued policies that are based on the assumption of systemic racial bias, saying that those policies reduce accountability for black offenders and ultimately harm black communities.
“It is time for policymakers to recognize that Minnesota’s criminal justice system is not creating unwarranted ‘disparities’ disfavoring black offenders. Responding as if it does, and altering the system to reduce accountability for black offenders, is a misguided effort,” the report reads. “It is one that harms the black community in the present while it derails, delays, and underfunds efforts to apply long-term solutions toward the social disparities that fuel the disproportionate amount of black criminality and black victimization.”
Zimmer argued that policy reforms should instead address the “drivers” of crime, including familial issues, a lack of education, high unemployment, and low homeownership rates. He cautioned that focusing solely on reforms to reduce disparities without enforcing consequences for criminal behavior would continue to perpetuate high crime rates and victimization within black communities.
The report, analyzing the 2022 data, is an expansion on a report released last year by CAE.
This article has been updated to provide further detail and clarification regarding the report’s findings.
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
