The groundbreaking consent decree approved by the USDC for the Southern District of Mississippi mandates new policies to address racial profiling by the county’s Sheriff’s Department.
Retained by Simpson Thacher and the ACLU of Mississippi
Cornerstone Research worked with Simpson Thacher and the ACLU of Mississippi in this pro bono case that resulted in a landmark consent decree. The citizens of Madison County, Mississippi, brought a class action lawsuit against the county’s Sheriff’s Department. The plaintiffs alleged the Sheriff’s Department used unconstitutional tactics and racial profiling in traffic and pedestrian stops.
Our experts analyzed the frequency of traffic stops across different racial groups, and assessed whether roadblocks in Madison County were implemented more frequently in neighborhoods that are predominantly African-American.
Rahul Guha and Bryan Ricchetti of Cornerstone Research, Justin McCrary of Columbia Law School, and Patricia Frontiera of the University of California, Berkeley, served as expert witnesses for the plaintiffs. The experts analyzed the frequency of traffic stops across different racial groups, and assessed whether roadblocks in Madison County were implemented more frequently in neighborhoods that are predominantly African-American.
In October 2019, a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Mississippi approved a groundbreaking consent decree, one of the first in the state of Mississippi to address these kinds of policing practices. The settlement implements new policies for non-biased policing, roadblocks, and pedestrian stops. It also establishes new data collection, record-keeping, and disclosure requirements as well as a community advisory board to monitor compliance and to provide a forum for community complaints and comments.
Simpson Thacher and the ACLU have issued press releases on this landmark case, and it has been covered by publications such as the New York Times.
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