When the pandemic ends, should criminal justice return to ‘normal’? Maybe not.

The two defining events of 2020, the surge in COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests, involve separate issues, but in an inexorable way the pandemic and the protests have converged to change, at least temporarily, the criminal justice system.

As the pandemic has reduced public activity, arrests have dropped. Meanwhile, sheriffs and prosecutors have taken steps to reduce jail populations to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They are putting fewer people in jail for probation violations and nonviolent offenses and bail requirements are being reduced or waived. The result is a criminal justice system that is bending toward what the Black Lives Matter protesters seek – a system less needlessly punitive, especially toward Black Americans.

The News & Observer’s Virginia Bridges recently reported on the drop in North Carolina arrests, probation violations and jail populations based on statistics compiled by researchers at the UNC School of Government. The examples she cites are startling and should be encouraging:

• Arrests in Raleigh fell nearly 40 percent from January to September of this year.

• The number of people sent back to prison or jail after having their probation revoked during those months fell 53% statewide.

• The number of people in county jails across the state dropped by nearly 30% from February to July.

Lasting reductions

The reductions raise two questions. First, has a lighter hand in probation violation arrests and holding fewer people in jail endangered the public? If not, can the usually crowded and costly criminal justice system retain these reductions and efficiencies once normal social and business activity resumes?

The answer to the first question requires more study. Some cities in North Carolina and nationwide have experienced a sharp rise in shootings during the pandemic, but robberies and property crimes have dropped. There is no evidence yet that more violent crime is connected to reduced incarceration. Some experts trace the rise to an increase in gun sales and the social and economic stresses of the pandemic.

In any case, the lowering of the criminal justice system’s usual volume has let prosecutors, law enforcement officials and lawmakers consider whether the previous levels of arrests and jailing were necessary.

Recommendations on that issue and other aspects of North Carolina’s criminal justice system will be coming soon. In response to the Black Lives Matter protests, Gov. Roy Cooper in July commissioned the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. The group, which includes police, criminal justice advocates and elected officials, is co-chaired by state Attorney General Josh Stein and state Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls. The task force will release its full recommendations in a report to Cooper on Dec. 15.

State Rep. Marcia Morey, a Durham Democrat who previously served as an assistant district attorney in Durham and as a district court judge, is a member of the task force and chair of its working group on court procedures.

Eye-opening data

Morey said she was impressed by the members’ ability to reach consensus on the need for changes after being presented with statistics on racial discrimination within the criminal justice system.

“The consensus that came forward I was really pleased with,” she said. “The data shown to us opened our eyes.”

The task force has already indicated it will recommend the decriminalization of the possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana, a charge brought disproportionately against Blacks. But Morey said the task force also will call for much broader reforms “from the beginning of the criminal process to the end — the death penalty.”

“I think it will be a very bold report,” she said. “I hope there will be recommendations to achieve real changes for racial equity.”

The pandemic has created a painful disruption in the economy and social connections. But it has also exposed inequities. Once the pandemic passes, we hope the criminal justice system can stick with and build on changes that have fostered fairness in the treatment of all who pass through the state’s courts, jails and prisons.