Despite a scattering of notable victories by women of color prosecutors in cities like Baltimore, Chicago, and Boston, elected prosecutors are 95% white, a data point that hasn’t shifted for half a decade. Yet change is possible. When diverse challengers run against the mostly white and male incumbent prosecutors, they are favored by voters. For criminal justice reform to truly take hold, more women and people of color must be voted in.
This report examines the demographics of elected prosecutors, and charts the course for change:
- White men are 73% of elected prosecutors – down from 79% in 2014
- Women prosecutors have increased by 34%
- While women of color are gravely under-represented as prosecutors, their numbers are growing
- Prosecutors run unopposed 80% of the time, but when challengers take them on, voters respond
In the Media
Prior to the November 2019 election cycle, 20% of the population are women of color, but represented 1.87% of the 2,396 elected prosecutor titles — district attorney, prosecuting attorney, county attorney, county prosecuting attorney, state’s attorney, solicitor general and attorney, according to the Reflective Democracy Campaign…, the only organization believed to keep this recent data.
“For the few black women prosecutors, hate and ‘misogynoir’ are part of life.” ABC News
Elected prosecutors have historically and overwhelmingly been White (95 percent) and male (80 percent). They still are, but since 2015, women of color have been chipping away at this hierarchy, with nearly 50 percent more of them stepping into prosecutorial positions in just five years, according to a new study from the Reflective Democracy Campaign.
“Study Says When Women of Color Enter Prosecutor Races, They Win.” Colorlines
