You might think that Hennepin County, Minn., would have some humility about making public demonstrations of race discrimination in law enforcement.

If you are a person of modest good sense, you might think that Hennepin County, Minn. — home to Minneapolis — would have some humility about making public demonstrations of race discrimination in law enforcement. The George Floyd riots that burned sections of the city in 2020 graphically illustrated the danger of public perceptions that some lives matter more than others to the enforcers of the law. The proposed responses to those riots proved disastrously self-destructive. Prosecutors let some of the rioters off entirely — some of them bailed out of jail with the help of funds raised by Kamala Harris on Twitter — and gave others scandalously light sentences for crimes such as like fatal arson. Voters in even the most progressive enclaves reacted by firing city council members who proposed defunding the police. The city’s police department still faced critical shortages of personnel four years later, and only began to recover in January 2025.

So, what is on the minds of the Hennepin County district attorney’s office right now? Explicit race discrimination in criminal sentencing:

Starting Monday, prosecutors in Hennepin County will be required to consider race when offering plea deals, according to a new policy from County Attorney Mary Moriarty. . . . The document entitled “Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants” lays out several considerations for prosecutors to take as they negotiate and offer resolutions to criminal defendants in the form of plea deals, including the race and age of the defendant.

“While racial identity and age are not appropriate grounds for departures [from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines], proposed resolutions should consider the person charged as a whole person, including their racial identity and age. While these factors should not be controlling, they should be part of the overall analysis. Racial disparities harm our community, lead to distrust, and have a negative impact on community safety. Prosecutors should be identifying and addressing racial disparities at decision points, as appropriate,” one section of the policy states. [Emphasis added.]

A policy that tells prosecutors to consider and avoid the potential for discriminatorily long sentences might be defensible in court, and if that was what Moriarty was aiming at, she could have said so. This is not that. It’s a conspicuous wink and nod to giving intentionally disparate treatment on the basis of race. When will we stop doing that and expecting it to end well?