We’re in the news! March 27, WFYI Public Media
“The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has significantly decreased the amount of charges it has filed in recent years – but Black and Hispanic populations are still disproportionately impacted.
A new report from the SAVI project at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis’ Polis Center and the Kheprw Institute published last week analyzed case filings in Marion County from January 2017 to August 2022. The study found that, while the county is filing fewer charges than it did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black defendants make up about 50 percent of the cases filed. Only 27 percent of Marion County’s population is Black.
Aaron Olson, a research data analyst with the Polis Center, said examining equity in Marion County’s justice system has been a priority for the center.
“There’s a lot of interest in the community about how the criminal justice system works, and particularly understanding why we see really unequal outcomes amongst different groups,” Olson said. “So that’s really the focus of why we’ve been working on this….” Read more