Senator Biden proposes "Justice Integrity Act" to study federal criminal justice disparities

Perhaps because the bill he introduced last week has gotten no press coverage, I only recently learned about Senator Joe Biden's encouraging efforts to examine racial and ethnic disparities in the federal criminal justice system.  The basics of the bill are explained in this press release from Biden's office, which starts this way:

U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, along with Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) and John F. Kerry (D-MA), today introduced the Justice Integrity Act, legislation designed to increase public confidence in the justice system and address any unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal process.  The Justice Integrity Act will establish advisory groups in ten federal districts, under the supervision of the United States Attorney General, to study and determine the extent of racial and ethnic disparity in the various stages of the criminal justice system; make public reports on the results of their findings; and make specific recommendations to help to eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination and unjustified racial and ethnic disparities.

Thanks to a link from the Sentencing Project, the full text of the Biden bill is available here.  Also, a Google search led me to this short letter from the ABA, which expressed strong support for the bill.  The ABA letter starts this way:

[The American Bar Association and its members] express our strong support for the Justice Integrity Act, legislation to examine the cause and extent of racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system and to facilitate the development of proposals for reducing or eliminating racial and ethnic bias where it is found.  We applaud your leadership in introducing the Justice Integrity Act. It provides a thoughtful approach to addressing this issue of great importance to our justice system through supporting the gathering of facts and generation of proposals for reform at the federal district level.