Average felony bail in Duluth shows racial disparities, group says

DULUTH — Black defendants accused of felony-level crimes in Duluth are ordered to pay double the amount of cash bail on average than white defendants, according to an analysis by a local law enforcement accountability group.

Black people make up about 2% of the city's population but accounted for 20% of felony cases requiring bail between 2018 and 2021, according to data from the State Court Administrator's Office. During that time, bail was set for Black defendants on average at $66,186 for felony charges, while white defendants were assigned an average of $32,074.

The analysis, disputed in part by state court administrators, builds on other disparities unearthed by the grassroots LEAN Duluth, which formed in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, including disproportionate use-of-force incidents and arrests by Duluth police and longer sentences for drug crimes.

"Racial disparities are extremely present here in Duluth — present in policing, present in jail and present in the court room," said Jamey Sharp of LEAN Duluth. "We're trying to show in this pipeline there are disparities at every single stop where Black and brown people have less of a chance at justice than white people."

The data also shows that Native Americans, less than 2% of Duluth's population, make up 16% of the felony cases requiring bail.

Those bail amount disparities didn't exist for lesser charges the group examined. That raises questions about why the gap is so wide for felonies, Sharp said, pointing to potential implicit biases by individual judges. The data doesn't detail a defendant's criminal history or crime severity, however.

In a response to the findings, the State Court Administrator's Office said LEAN implies individual judge bias but doesn't take into account case sample size or whether Black defendants are disproportionately charged, leading to higher criminal history scores and higher bail settings. According to the office's own analysis of the data, it found higher bail settings for white defendants for certain offenses, such as weapons charges, said Kyle Christopherson, a spokesman for the office.

"Data of this nature requires a much more detailed analysis before any sweeping conclusions can be drawn," he said.

Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken said bail amounts vary by defendant and court location, and an "apples to apples" analysis of offenses versus bail amounts would better illuminate disparities.

"We know judges have discretion in bail setting on a case by case basis," he said in a written statement, and they consider a variety of factors, including public safety and the defendant's likelihood to be law-abiding and appear in court.

The average bail amount for Black defendants is unusual considering the number of Black people living in Duluth, said T. Anansi Wilson, an associate professor of constitutional and criminal law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, who will direct its Center for the Study of Black Life and the Law when it launches later this year.

Conscious and unconscious biases can lead to these kinds of disparities, he said, where Black people are often seen as more "criminal, more violent and more likely to offend."

"What is the purpose of bail here?" he asked. "So someone doesn't run away, or is bail itself essentially a type of jail sentence?"

Duluth NAACP president Classie Dudley said she isn't surprised by the findings.

"If you look at who is in the St. Louis County Jail right now, it's mostly people living in poverty," she said. "Duluth, just like the rest of the country, is a super punitive area."

She said the results stem from a criminalization of poverty.

"People closest to poverty are those closest to oppression," Dudley said. "It's a whole vicious cycle we don't have to be a part of."

Wilson said many who can't post bail lose their jobs, worsening the problem.

"They haven't been convicted, haven't had their day in court," he said. "They are only there because they are poor at this point."

But the findings don't reflect the number of defendants who may have chosen a conditional release with no bail, if they had that option, Christopherson said.

The Minnesota Judicial Branch is studying its pretrial screening tool, with a report expected this summer.

"Minnesota is committed to equal justice and is making every effort to continue to address any factors that lead to disparate impact on communities of color," Christopherson said.