The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office issued a new internal memo that reveals how criminal plea deals will now be handled.

“The purpose of this policy is to achieve safe, equitable, and just outcomes that center the healing of victims while improving community safety through individual and system accountability,” according to a copy of the memo sent to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

“I campaigned on addressing racial disparities in the system,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. “This is part of that attempt to have our prosecutors take a look at their potential unconscious bias.” Part of the memo mentions that a prosecutor’s “… proposed resolutions should consider the person charged as a whole person, including their racial identity and age.”

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“I do not believe our prosecutors have intentionally offered something different because of someone’s race,” Moriarty said. “I don’t believe that at all.”

Moriarty said the new policy is trying to make sure that a prosecutor’s possible implicit bias doesn’t cloud their judgment when offering a deal, which might involve prison or probation, to a defendant.

“Asking our staff to check themselves and just look at the case from different perspectives, just to make sure they are making an equitable offer to this person and not one where unconscious bias has crept in,” Moriarty said.

“I don’t know of any other place in the country that has put this in writing,” said David Schultz, Hamline University professor of political science and legal studies. “I think it raises constitutional questions, and a bunch of political questions.”

Schultz said he’s not sure if the policy could hold up to a possible legal challenge.

“Using the criminal justice system as a way of trying to correct those racial disparities by saying we are going to consider race in our prosecution, or plea-bargaining decisions, raises a lot of problems,” Schultz said.

The new policy went into effect back on Monday and was sent to the County Attorney’s staff.

The three-page policy also creates a new coaching policy for prosecutors by senior staff, focusing on getting defendants to accept earlier deals, and urging prosecutors to communicate “early and often” with crime victims to make sure they are informed, asking for their input.