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Top judge in Mass looking at racial bias in justice system

BOSTON — The top judge in Massachusetts wants to get to the bottom of racial bias in the justice system.

“We really need to understand what is happening,” said Chief Justice Ralph Gants.

Gants is asking Harvard Law School to examine the Massachusetts court system, and figure out why African Americans and Hispanics are locked up at a much higher rate than whites.

When Gants looked at the numbers, he knew something was wrong.

Last month the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission found African Americans are locked up 8 times the rate of whites. Hispanics nearly five times the number of whites. The commission found the disparity in Massachusetts is significantly greater than the national average.

“When I learned our disparity is greater than the nation as a whole I felt we really need to get to the heart of it,” said Gants.

Gants asked the Harvard Law School to create an independent research team to find where there may be implicit bias, from the arrest, to setting the bail, to sentencing the defendant.

“The opportunity to bring in Harvard Law School and their research experts and their independent review, allows us to do something we couldn’t possibly do ourselves,” Gants told FOX25.

Paula Carey is the chief justice of the Trial Courts in Massachusetts and said the review needs to start at the top, with the judges.

"Well, one of the challenges really is just giving judges and other decision makers in our system the ability to be reflective in what they do and sometimes it’s that reflection that helps you counteract some of the implicit bias issues,” Carey told FOX25.

“It’s not easy to do because obviously some share of that disparity relates to differences in terms of the criminal history and in terms of the nature of the charges,” Gants said.

Gants is hoping the study including all the district attorney and police departments throughout Massachusetts. There’s no word on how long the study could take.