This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that covers the U.S. criminal justice system.
Earlier this year, when San Francisco public
defender Mark Jacobs addressed a group of potential jurors in the murder
trial of a young black man, he asked them point-blank to consider
whether they might judge him more harshly because of his race. "Look at
my client," Jacobs said, noting his dark skin. "He's the stereotype of
everything you think is scary."
Jacobs was surprised the judge allowed such
explicit talk of race in the courtroom, but he was even more surprised
at himself; he would not have made this sort of remark a few years ago.
The moment reflected a rising awareness among public defenders that they
may harbor the same hidden biases about race and ethnicity that are
frequently attributed to police and prosecutors.
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