Nebraska Minority and Justice Task Force

The Nebraska Supreme Court and the Nebraska State Bar Association, with the assistance of the Public Policy Center, established the Minority and Justice Task Force in 2001 to identify actual or perceived racial/ethnic bias and discrimination in the Nebraska justice system and make recommendations to the Supreme Court on how to address any identified inequities. Research was coordinated by the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center and was partially funded by two large grants from the State Justice Institute (SJI).

The areas focused on by the Task Force included:

• Minority employment in the judicial system
• The representation of minorities in the legal profession
• Access to the court system (interpreters, representative juries, etc.)
• Disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems

The Final Report 2003 of the Minority and Justice Task Force was released to the public Friday, January 31, 2003 concluding the two-year study of the Nebraska court system and legal profession. The major recommendation of the Final Report was to establish a standing committee to implement the Task Force's recommendations. To learn more about the Minority Justice Committee’s continuing ef forts click here.