Prosecutors, Ethics and the Pursuit of Racial Justice

Authors

Roger FairfaxFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2021

Journal

Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law

Volume

19

Issue

1

First Page

25

Last Page

37

Abstract

The 2020 murder of George Floyd catalyzed a national reckoning on race, and scrutiny of barriers to racial justice, rightfully focused on policing. However, as this Symposium has demonstrated, it is also critical to interrogate the prosecutorial function, given the outsize role prosecutors play in the criminal legal system. Scholars and advocates have utilized a number of frames to explore a key topic of this symposium-the intersection between prosecutorial discretion, prosecutorial ethics, and racial inequity.'

Although the renewed interest in the prosecutor's role in the pursuit of racial justice raises many new questions and opportunities, the scaffolding for such work already exists in many of the current ethical rules and standards governing the prosecution function. This brief essay, based on my remarks at the Symposium, explores some of the ways in which the ethical guidance provides a justification for-and in some instances even compels-the active pursuit of racial justice by prosecutors.

Recommended Citation

Roger Fairfax, Prosecutors, Ethics and the Pursuit of Racial Justice, 19 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 25 (2021).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/2082