Philly DA releases new report on racial injustice: 'Where there are not facts, there is racism'

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- On this Juneteenth, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner released a new report highlighting racial inequalities in the city's criminal legal system.

Krasner is linking these inequalities to the enslavement of Black people in the U.S., and other injustices that date back centuries.

The number comes from his office's Analytics DATA Lab.

"During the study's eight-year time period, Black Philadelphians made up just under 40% of the population, but nearly 70% of police stops and more than 60% of arrests," said DATA Lab analytics director Wes Weaver.

Krasner gathered a group of community leaders at Eastern State Penitentiary in Fairmount.

He says the numbers show that there's persistent over-policing, over-prosecution, over-incarceration, and over-supervision of Black and brown people in Philadelphia.

"When you have a system where over 30 people have been exonerated and almost all of them truly innocent, even though they spent decades in jail and they are nearly all Black and brown, then maybe you need science to solve crimes," Krasner says. "Because where they are not facts, there is racism."

Jerome Loach was formerly incarcerated and exonerated.

He shared his story Monday, having served over a decade in prison.

A few years ago, upon his release, he got a job at Eastern State Penitentiary where he is now a supervisor.

"In order for us to succeed as a whole, you have to allow those who have been impacted to have a seat at the table," Loach says. "You can't fix something thinking you can read a book and solve our problems. You have to allow us to sit at the table."

On Monday, the group talked about the effects of the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd and the work that still needs to be done three years later.

Krasner said that these are just numbers, not solutions to the problem.

It's up to the community, local leaders and officials, he says, to do the work.