In August, Claire Jean Kim, a UC Irvine political science professor and expert in racial bias, testified for the defense. The text messages included department supervisors. She said only in a department with an entrenched culture of racism would no one report the violations of department policy. And that, she said, is exactly what happened in the Antioch Police Department. “The law can and must repudiate the decisions made by such decision-makers, both for the sake of the defendant and for the community that rests its trust in the justice system,” she told the court.

For the full story, please visit https://www.kqed.org/news/11975584/californias-groundbreaking-racial-justice-act-cuts-its-teeth-in-contra-costa.