Jake Bleiberg, criminal justice reporter, Dallas; Aaron Morrison, race and ethnicity reporter, New York; and Jim Mustian, federal law enforcement reporter, New York, working with Washington data editor Meghan Hoyer, analyzed years of data on U.S. attorneys to reveal how any diversity gains made under previous administrations have faltered under President Donald Trump. Eighty-five percent of Trump’s Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys are white men, according to AP’s analysis, significantly more than the three previous administrations going back to 1993.
But the numbers were just part of the story. The AP team reported on why it mattered in this moment of national reckoning over racial inequality and the fairness of the criminal justice system. The story articulated how Black and brown people are disproportionately imprisoned but underrepresented in the system that puts them there.
Washington photo editor Jon Elswick compiled an impressive combo of all the attorneys, showing row after row – predominantly of white men. Washington video journalist Nathan Ellgren meanwhile produced a video of zoom interviews, in between his coverage of President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.