All this week, we are running the two mayoral candidates' responses to questions on six issues of vital importance to Philadelphia: education, public safety, race and diversity, neighborhoods, government reform, and jobs. The questions were developed by participants in the Citizen Voices project. Today's issue is race and diversity, which spurred this question from the Citizen Voices participants:

"Many citizens feel that racial inequalities infect the city's police department and criminal justice system. As mayor, would you be willing to impanel a group of national experts to review Philadelphia's whole law enforcement system - from the behavior of police patrols to the application of the death penalty - with the panel making its findings public?"

Below are John Street's and Sam Katz's responses.

Sam Katz: If citizens do not have confidence that they will be treated fairly, they ultimately lose respect for the law, and we all suffer.

But rather than leaping to impanel a group of national experts, I would like to await the results of an imminent study - pursuant to a Pennsylvania Supreme Court order of Oct. 14, 1999 - of racial, ethnic and gender bias in the state's justice system. As mayor, I will request that this inquiry study whether there are practices - ranging from the treatment of crime suspects to criminal charging decisions - that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities. I will also request that the committee make its findings public. If the committee finds evidence of racial, ethnic or gender bias in the Philadelphia Police Department or in our local courts, I will move swiftly to correct these conditions to ensure fairness and equity.

For criminal justice agencies and programs, I will appoint leaders whose commitment to diversity and reputation for integrity are impeccable. Also, I continually will bring together the district attorney, the leaders of the city's courts, the prison and police commissioners, the FOP, the Guardian Civic League and others to address how to eradicate racial inequalities - both perceived and actual - throughout the city's criminal justice system, and to report regularly on our effectiveness in meeting that goal.

John Street: Issues of racial inequity continue to taint many institutions across this country and in our city - and wherever we find it, we must confront it honestly and directly. Our system of criminal justice is no exception.

I do not believe a city commission would be as significant as one convened by all of the critical stakeholders in the state and federal criminal and judicial systems, as well as federal, state and local systems of correction. I can support a multijurisdictional commission and would take guidance from its findings.

I do not believe the city should wait before we tackle some of the problems that exist in the following areas:

Police Department testing and selection procedures. I believe the city's current use of lie detector tests is unfair.

Drug treatment and recovery programs.

Inadequate prevention programming, particularly truancy prevention and after-school programs for our youth. A substantial percentage of the minority youth in many of our communities have direct contact with the criminal justice system. This number can be reduced if we work to provide more constructive alternatives for all of our children.