New DA’s Office Analysis Examines Racial Disparities in Misdemeanor Drug Cases

SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Black defendants accounted for 90% of misdemeanor drug cases entering Shelby County’s criminal justice system in May, according to new racial equity data released by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.

The finding is part of the Office’s first public analysis using selected Prosecutorial Performance Indicators (PPIs) to examine whether outcomes differ across racial and ethnic groups—including who enters the system, who receives reduced charges through plea agreements and who receives diversion. PPIs are standardized measures that help prosecutors’ offices assess case outcomes, identify patterns and evaluate fairness, efficiency and effectiveness over time. The PPI selects misdemeanor drug cases as a useful measure for examining potential racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

The Office cautions that the 90% figure does not reflect a prosecutorial charging decision. Misdemeanor drug cases generally enter the court system through law-enforcement booking before they reach prosecutors. Because the DA’s Office does not receive complete arrest and referral data from local law-enforcement agencies, the data cannot determine what is driving the disparity or where in the process it originates.

Once cases reached prosecutors, the May data showed smaller differences in the outcomes examined.

Among defendants who pleaded guilty, 41% of Black defendants pleaded to at least one lesser charge, compared with 43% of defendants recorded as White. (Those figures do not account for differences in charges, criminal history, evidence or other factors that can affect plea negotiations.)

Diversion data showed a similar pattern of roughly comparable treatment of Black and White defendants. Black defendants represented 77.75% of defendants eligible for diversion and 82.91% of those who received it. Defendants recorded as White represented 15.52% of those eligible and 15.38% of diversion recipients.

“We all know there are racial disparities in our criminal justice system,” said DA Steve Mulroy. “To understand its scope and contour, let alone improve it, we must measure it with data and share that data with the public. This is the beginning of a longer effort to do just that.”

The Office cautions against drawing broad conclusions from one month of data. May establishes a baseline that can be compared with future reporting periods to determine whether these patterns persist, change or warrant deeper examination. In future months, the Office plans to do similar analyses for other offenses besides misdemeanor drug offenses.

There are also important limitations. A court data-entry change in early 2026 caused some Hispanic defendants to be recorded as White, making comparisons involving Hispanic defendants unreliable. The Office also lacks complete arrest and referral data from local law-enforcement agencies, limiting its ability to examine disparities that may occur before cases reach prosecutors.

The racial equity measures are part of a broader effort to use data to evaluate how the criminal justice system is working and make that information available to the public.

The full analysis, including additional findings, methodology and data limitations, is available here.