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Home / Research / Data Analysis

Justice For All: Who Prosecutes in America?

July, 2015

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An illustration of the 48 continious states in black. On top of them is a justice scale, viewed from the top.

In the summer of 2014, the Reflective Democracy Campaign compiled race and gender data from a dataset of elected state and county prosecutors in 46 states. Prosecutors are the most powerful figures in the criminal justice system. They alone decide whether to file or drop charges, and how stiff a sentence to seek. Meanwhile, race and gender disparities plague the sector.

We looked at the 2,437 elected prosecutors across the nation as of the summer of 2014 and found that white Americans held 95% of elected prosecutor positions.

A deeper analysis of the research revealed:

  • 3/5 of states, including Illinois, had no elected Black prosecutors.
  • In 14 states, all elected prosecutors were white, including Washington with 39 elected prosecutors and Tennessee with 31.
  • All but one of Missouri’s 113 prosecutors were white.
  • Outside of Virginia and Mississippi, only 1% of elected prosecutors were Black.

Editor’s Note

In 2019, we updated our prosecutor data and released Tipping the Scales: Challengers Take on the Old Boys Club of Elected Prosecutors.

In the Media

Sixty-six percent of states that elect prosecutors have no blacks in those offices, a new study has found, highlighting the lack of diversity in the ranks of those entrusted to bring criminal charges and negotiate prison sentences.

“A Study Documents the Paucity of Black Elected Prosecutors: Zero in Most States.” New York Times
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About the Data

Reviewing voter files and other publicly accessible data, we tracked over 2,400 elected state and county-level prosecutors (known in some localities as Assistant District Attorneys) across 46 states in the summer of 2014.

  • Justice for All Data 2014 (zip, 38.16 KB)
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