“The Color of Justice: The News Disparities” is part five of an MPR special series which investigates the racial disparity in Minnesota’s criminal justice system. Discussions of race and the criminal justice system tend to focus on the disproportionate rates at which African Americans are arrested and jailed. However, the growth of Latinos, Hmong, and Somali in Minnesota has broadened the scope of the disparities issue.
Skin color, ethnicity, language and culture often complicate interactions between law enforcement and members of immigrant and refugee communities. The police and courts are trying to adjust to the increasing diversity.