Prof. Jill Hasday Interviewed by KARE News About New Hennepin County Policy Considering Race in Plea Deals

Professor Jill Hasday, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Centennial Professor in Law, was interviewed by KARE News about a new policy from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in which race will be considered when offering plea deals. Regarding the new policy, Prof. Hasday said the policy appears deliberately written to be ambiguous to avoid well-known constitutional issues involving the Equal Protection Clause. She said, “It both says, ‘Don't take race into account,’ presumably because of the constitutional problems with taking race into account in addition to potentially political objections, but it simultaneously says this is something you should consider. And the problem for the drafters of this policy is, once you take race into account, it doesn’t really matter what else you say. The policy is going to be struck down."