Following the officer-involved shooting and death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, the Department of Justice opened an investigation and issued a report of the Ferguson Police Department and court system. During the investigation, it was discovered that the city's law enforcement system reinforced and reflected racial bias. Staff in Ferguson were found to have exhibited substantial racial bias.
• What do you believe was the primary cause of racial bias in the Ferguson Police Department and courts at the time?
• What specific area of the report provided insight into the issues of racial bias and prejudice within the criminal justice system, and why?
• What was the impact of this report on the public perception of justice? How do you believe public officials and members of the criminal justice profession can address racial bias and prejudice within their communities?
Sample Answer
The Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the Ferguson Police Department and court system following Michael Brown's death in 2014 exposed a criminal justice system where policies and priorities, rather than just individual prejudice, resulted in systemic racial bias.
Primary Cause of Racial Bias in Ferguson
The primary cause of the racial bias in the Ferguson Police Department and courts was the city's institutional reliance on generating revenue through law enforcement.
The DOJ report found that Ferguson's system was not primarily geared toward public safety but rather toward maximizing the collection of fines and fees from tickets, arrests, and court costs. This created a perverse incentive for police officers to engage in aggressive enforcement of municipal codes, disproportionately targeting residents who could be easily cited and arrested—who were overwhelmingly African American.
The specific area of the report that provided the most damning insight into the issues of racial bias was the statistical analysis of policing and court activity.
This section offered quantitative evidence of deeply entrenched, discriminatory practices by comparing the city's racial demographics to the outcomes of law enforcement actions:
Disproportionate Statistics: Despite African Americans comprising about 67% of Ferguson's population, they accounted for 85% of traffic stops, 90% of citations, and 93% of arrests between 2012 and 2014.
Contraband Search Disparity: Black drivers were more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during traffic stops, even though white drivers were 26% more likely to be found with contraband. This clearly indicated that stops and searches were driven by racial bias and stereotype, not by crime prevention or objective suspicion.
Prejudice in Communication: The report also provided direct evidence of prejudice through racially explicit and offensive emails exchanged by police and court staff, demonstrating a culture of overt bias that reinforced discriminatory practices.
This objective, statistical data was critical because it moved the conversation beyond isolated incidents or claims of individual prejudice to prove a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct and systemic racial discrimination embedded within the government apparatus.
Impact of the Report and How to Address Bias
Impact on Public Perception of Justice
The DOJ Ferguson report had a profound and nationwide impact on the public perception of justice.
Validation of Lived Experience: The report validated what many Black communities had claimed for decades: that their interactions with law enforcement and the courts were not random or due to higher crime rates, but were systematically discriminatory and designed to be punitive and revenue-generating.
Erosion of Legitimacy: It severely undermined the legitimacy of the criminal justice system, confirming that the system was fundamentally flawed in protecting the constitutional rights of all citizens, particularly African Americans.