New data from the Seattle Municipal Court (SMC) shows that the City Attorney’s Office (CAO) has prosecuted Black and Indigenous people at disproportionate rates in the first three months of 2022. The criminal filings log also shows that the vast majority of people prosecuted at the SMC are represented by public defenders.
This pattern of systemic racism and classism is a longstanding pattern of the criminal legal system and the SMC in general, said Anita Khandelwal, the director of the King County Department of Public Defense. ...