Posted: October 2, 2014
An article in the most recent issue of the Virginia Quarterly Review
examines the practice of excluding African-Americans from jury service,
particularly in death penalty cases in North Carolina. In Bias in the Box, Dax-Devlon
Ross notes, "Alongside the right to vote, the right to serve on a jury
is an enduring pillar of our democracy....Nevertheless, there is perhaps
no arena of public life where racial bias has been as broadly
overlooked or casually tolerated as jury exclusion." Ross traces the
history of civil rights litigation that secured blacks the right to
participate in juries, but he also shows the continued use of strategies
to remove them from service. In particular, the repeal of North
Carolina's Racial Justice Act in 2013 removed an important
protection of equality in jury service. Before the act was rescinded, a
special court reduced the sentences of four death row inmates because of
patterns of racial bias in jury selection. In one case, a prosecutor's
notes described potential jurors as "blk wino - drugs" and as living in a
"blk, high drug" neighborhood. Ross quotes a number of potential black
jurors who wanted to serve in North Carolina but felt they were excluded
because of their race. 
No comments:
Post a Comment