Sunday, June 23, 2013

FOIA REQUEST OF LOUDOUN COURTS RE BLACK ARREST FIGURES




CAMPBELL FLANNERY
1602 Village Market Blvd., Suite 220, Leesburg VA 20175
Cell: 202-365-5060; Phone: 703-771-8344



The Honorable Gary M. Clemens
Clerk, Loudoun County Circuit Court
18 East Market St.
Leesburg, VA 20176

The Honorable Tammy Dinterman
Clerk, Loudoun County General District Court
18 East Market St.
Leesburg, VA 20176

Dear Gary and Tammy,

      There is a growing awareness that the Confederate soldier statue standing in front of the Courthouse represents disunity, lawlessness and slavery. I concur with that critical view. The statue not only offends but it chills access to and compromises trust in this Court and the regularity of its proceedings at the Circuit and District Court levels. There is a fear that this symbol means that persons of color are not being treated as equal by the Courts despite the promise of "equal justice before the law."

      In a recent Channel 9 broadcast, Johnny Chambers, Jr., a defendant before the General District Court, was interviewed and said, "It's hard to get justice when you get people that live in this area, that run this county, that believe in this system," pointing at the Confederate soldier statue.

      Several years ago a Deputy Clerk, Jennifer Grant, reportedly said, she "didn't like the statue," but that "there were certain things people didn't talk about."

      Current staff at the Court have told me the same thing in recent days since I expressed my opinion publicly about the adverse effect of this statue on the courts' mission.
       
      Accordingly, I'm requesting certain information to test the proposition how we treat the black citizens we arrest in this County and whether, as is believed, blacks are arrested in disproportion to their representation in the Loudoun County population.

      In the court case information on-line, there is plainly indicated the race of every person arrested, for the public to behold, to review and to use as they see fit.

      This information is also maintained in the aggregate in a database that has predetermined "queries" that you may access and forward to state authorities.

      For example, Johnny Chambers' case is available on-line, his race plainly identified, so that one may consider the charges against Mr. Chambers and know precisely what disposition he received.

      Johnny's charge was marijuana possession. There is a recent study that states,while there is no proportional difference between and among blacks and whites as to the use of marijuana, there is a dramatic and significant over-representation of blacks arrested for possession of marijuana, reflecting an apparent policy of prosecutorial discrimination.

      In any case, the purpose of this request is to gather information under FOIA that is believed to be readily available in the court's records to consider the proportion of all adult arrests in Loudoun County that are black citizens, of all drug and narcotics offenses that are black citizens, of all marijuana possession charges that are black citizens, and all disorderly conduct charges that are black citizens.

      We know the information in the aggregate is available in these categories as there are state-wide summaries that report this information.

      We have reason to believe it is accessible in your offices, online or otherwise, or we wouldn't request it.

      We seek this information for the last five years, consistent with the reporting intervals now extant, presumably every month, 6 months, or yearly, going back five years from the latest report. If you can access it for one period, then annual figures would be sufficient.

      Accordingly, we request the following information for the last five years, as follows:

      1. Criminal Offenses

a)  Number of arrests of adults for all criminal offenses exclusive of traffic offenses.

      b) Number of arrests of black adults for all criminal offenses exclusive of traffic offenses.

      2. Drug and Narcotic Offenses
     
      a) Number of arrests of adults for all drug and narcotics offenses.

      b) Number of arrests of black adults for all drug and narcotics offenses.

      3. Marijuana (Possession)
     
      a) Number of arrests of adults for possession of marijuana.

      b) Number of arrests of black adults for possession of marijuana.

      4. Disorderly Conduct
     
      a) Number of arrests of adults for Disorderly conduct.
     
      b) Number of arrests of black adults for disorderly conduct.

      We expect the report to reflect monthly, half-year, or yearly reporting increments.

      We expect that these reports are readily available by submitting queries for such information, if there aren't already such periodic reports.

      If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call so that we may facilitate the requested FOIA production in accordance with the statutory timetable.

      We have addressed you jointly as the Clerks for both the Circuit and District Courts in the hope that you can both cooperate with this request and respond jointly without duplication.

      Thank you in advance for your time and kind attention to this request.

                       Very truly yours,
 



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