“without regard to racial background”

I support the goal here.

Doyle’s order also directed state agencies to use information technology systems to track and analyze data for racial disparities. It also means the state Office of Justice Assistance and the Transportation and Corrections departments must track traffic citations, arrests, charges, sentencing and parole revocations by race and jurisdiction.

The disparity problem runs deep, the governor said, and solutions should be sought without worrying about political correctness or sparing the feelings of any state officials. He called for cooperation at all levels of the justice system, saying people at each level make decisions that determine who gets incarcerated.

“We want to make sure in this state, each of those decisions is made without regard to racial background,” he said.

I want to make sure the law is applied regardless of a person’s race too.  The problem I have is that the racial disparity in incarcerations is being used as evidence of racial bias in the system.  That may or may not be true.  It’s possible that there are some racists in the justice system that results in more minorities being jailed.  It’s also possible that some races in Wisconsin commit more crimes than other races and the equal application of the law will result in a racial disparity in incarcerations.  The goal should be exactly what Doyle said - that the system operates “without regard to racial backgrounds.” The goal should not be to make the prison population mirror the racial proportions of the general population.