A recent report promulgated by the New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Janet Fiore stated that based on a recent task force inquiry there has been a racial injustice bias in the court system which has produced a “second class system for people of color”. The Chief Justice asked Jeh Johnson to inquire into our system of Justice in New York and prepare a report. That report found that after interviewing more than 300 individuals involved in the Court system, done anonymously, the interviews revealed bias. Of the three hundred workers interviewed it showed systemic racisim in the way people of color are treated. The report listed Family Court and housing court and criminal court as potential offenders. The Report cited lack of resources as a contributing factor. The report discussed that court employees do not get adequate training on implicit bias. It was also discussed that it should be an imperative that all courthouse employees get bias training. While this is not a scientific study, it does seem to suggest the need o the Court to any hostile environment that would work a hardshp on people of color
The Third Judicial Department has mandated bias training for all courthouse employees.
I think that Family Court will benefit from bias training of all people of all races so that we can eradicate the culture of hatred that has persisited in our country for way too long. I personally welcome representing all people of any race and treat every one of my clients, adversaries and court staff regardless of race, gender or sexual preference with the respect they deserve as I do not see color, I only see people and I find it disgusting if any person injects racisim and hatred into our court system. It has no place there or anywhere.
That said, more needs to be done to research this issue since three hundred people is not a large enough sample from which we can make the sound conclusions necessary for an action plan.