County Executive, County Board Chair Create Implementation Team to work on Recommendations from Task Force on Racial Disparities

June 08, 2010
Joshua Wescott, 267-8823 or 669-5606 or Colleen Clark, 266-3022
County Executive

In September 2009, the Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System issued a comprehensive report (see www.co.dane.wi.us/oeo under racial disparities report icon) offering over 80 recommendations for ways to improve the fairness of the criminal justice system. County Executive Kathleen Falk and County Board Chairman Scott McDonell announced today the second step in that process—creating a group to begin work on those recommendations. This group will review all of the Task Force recommendations and advise the county and municipalities regarding implementation. A resolution passed by the County Board on May 20th, 2010 and signed by the County Executive formally accepted the Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System Report and called for creation of the Implementation Team. This group is made up of diverse individuals from Dane County and is staffed by the Dane County Office of Equal Opportunity. Attached is a full listing of Implementation Team members. “Combined with the many effective steps we’ve already taken in Dane County, moving forward with many of the good ideas of the Task Force will help reduce the racial disparities seen in the criminal justice system,” Falk said. “We need to ensure each and every one of our nearly half-million county residents are treated equally and fairly.” "The County Board unanimously approved the resolution to create the Implementation Team,” County Board Chair Scott McDonell said. “The reality of racial disparities in the criminal justice system is a black eye for Dane County. I am confident that the Implementation Team has strong and able members and the group will effectively tackle this critical issue for the county." The first meeting of the newly formed Implementation Team will take place on Monday June 14th at 5:15 in Room 421 of the City County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Celia Jackson, co-chair of the Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System, will chair the first meeting. # # # /Attachment