Racial Justice in Prosecution in Montgomery County
This report represents preliminary findings stemming from a research partnership between The Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office (MCSAO), led by Mr. John McCarthy, and a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, George Mason University, and Towson University. As part of this partnership, MCSAO provided case management data to the research team for all cases disposed of in Circuit Court from 2018-2019. This research report summarizes preliminary results from these data, examining potential racial differences in various prosecutorial outcomes.
This report is descriptive in nature and is meant to provide only a general summary of patterns in case outcomes – it does not allow for direct assessment of whether observed racial differences are warranted or unwarranted. Future reports will examine that issue more directly. The primary purpose of this report is to summarize racial differences in case characteristics for Black, Hispanic, and White defendants prosecuted in Montgomery County’s Circuit Court.
The report can be found at this link.