Only Two Black Attorneys in the Entire Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice - (Out of 50)

ONE OF THE TOP PRIORITIES OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS TO PROSECUTE VIOLATIONS OF OUR CIVIL RIGHTS. HOWEVER THE TEAM OF PROSECUTORS THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS PUT TOGETHER LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE AMERICA IT'S SUPPOSED TO PROTECT.

Some of the most notorious crimes committed in America – police brutality..cross burnings..violence at abortion clinics..modern day slavery - all federal crimes - are prosecuted by The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

But our investigation has found that the Justice Department is missing a key component in its mission to protect civil rights - DIVERSITY – diversity in the attorney ranks to prosecute cases.

Congressman John Conyers: "They need someone to investigate them." 

Since 2003...the criminal section within the Civil Rights Division has not hired a single black attorney to replace those who have left. Not one.  

As a result, the current face of civil rights prosecutions looks like this: Out of fifty attorneys in the Criminal Section - only two are black. The same number the criminal section had in 1978 - even though the size of the staff has more than doubled. 

Diversity Analysis Report

Diversity Analysis Report (redacted version)

Congressman John Conyers - Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee - was amazed to learn the Civil Rights Division has so few black attorneys trying criminal cases.  

Congressman John Conyers: "They don’t have the diversity that we’re saying is required in the country in businesses and of course in the Department of Justice itself."

We obtained Justice Dept. internal records showing very few black or Hispanic attorneys hired in the last few years.

Congressman John Conyers: "Zeros, zeros zeros, point seven percent. They’re incredibly low."

For more than a decade, Richard Ugelow was a supervisor at the Civil Rights section that sues government employers for discrimination in hiring and promotion.

Richard Ugelow: "You can’t operate like that.  We’re hypocrites."    Professor Ugelow now teaches law at American University. We showed him the Justice Department's statistics on minority hiring.  

Richard Ugelow: "We would sue employers for having numbers like that."  

None of this should come as a surprise to the Justice Department.  In 2002, it hired KPMG, an international consulting firm to analyze the diversity of its workforce. 

It issued this 186-page report finding the department had "significant diversity issues", that "minorities perceive unfairness," are "significantly under-represented in management ranks," and "more likely to leave than whites."

About 50% more likely…   Conyers:  “Exceedingly high."  The report showcases successful diversity programs at Microsoft… DuPont…IBM… and even other federal agencies like the U.S.D.A  and Patent Offices.   And page after page of recommendations calling for:  "accountability", …recruiting from "minority bar associations," ..."mentoring programs," … and "exit surveys to ask attorneys why they leave.    

And when the Department of Justice first released the report, page after page of the recommendations were covered up.

Richard Ugelow: "What’s different now is a lack of commitment to the African American community."

Professor Ugelow contends the Civil Rights Division has strayed from its core mission.   Richard Ugelow: "You can look at voting, you can look at housing, you can look at employment."   

We did. On employment:  This Justice Department chart reveals over a six year period the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission referred 32-hundred complaints by individuals about discrimination to the Civil Rights Division for action.

Of those, how many lawsuits were filed based on race discrimination? Only SIX.

Chairman Conyers says the House Judiciary Committee will begin an investigation of the Civil Rights Division’s diversity problems using our findings as a trigger.  

Congressman John Conyers "Because this lack of diversity in the workforce inside a vital division within DOJ is totally unacceptable." 

Roberta Baskin on set: Officials at the Justice Department declined our requests for an on-camera interview.

Instead, they sent us a statement outlining how - following the consultant recommendations - they recruit minorities and mentor new hires.

They also say the Civil Rights Division as a whole is the most diverse office in the Department of Justice. [HERE]. As TPMmuckraker’s Paul Kiel points out, “The Justice Department responded to WJLA-TV’s story by saying that the Civil Rights Division as a whole is the most diverse office in the Department of Justice. [MORE]