The Equal Justice Initiative report, Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy, released yesterday, was widely recognized by the blogosphere.
Let's begin with Tony Mauro's report in National Law Journal, "Study: Racial Bias Common in Jury Selection."
Nearly 25 years after Batson v. Kentucky, racial exclusion in jury selection is still common, according to a study of practices in southern states released Wednesday.
"In courtrooms across the United States, people of color are dramatically underrepresented on juries as a result of racially biased use of peremptory strikes," the report by the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative stated. "This phenomenon is especially prevalent in capital cases and other serious felony cases. Many communities have failed to make juries inclusive and representative of all who have a right to serve."
Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the initiative and author of the report, called for strong measures to ensure full representation of minorities on juries nationwide within five years. "The underrepresentation and exclusion of people of color from juries has seriously undermined the credibility and reliability of the criminal justice system, and there is an urgent need to end this practice. While courts sometimes have attempted to remedy the problem of discriminatory jury selection, in too many cases today we continue to see indifference to racial bias."
The study examined jury selection in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Stevenson said the report is the most comprehensive study of bias in jury selection since the Batson Supreme Court decision in 1986, which banned the use of race-based peremptory strikes of potential jurors. The ruling, however, gave prosecutors leeway in justifying strikes in race-neutral ways. As a result, the report states, prosecutors have simply excluded blacks for other stated reasons such as lack of education, wearing glasses or dyed hair.
The report alleges that some prosecutors train their lawyers on the wording they should use to exclude blacks without triggering charges of racial bias.
"As long as human beings are picking juries, there will be discrimination," said C. Rauch Wise, a criminal defense lawyer in Greenwood, S.C., and a board member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "There has to be some recourse in blatant cases," said Wise.
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog: Are Blacks Being Blocked From Serving on Southern Juries?
JD Journal: Study: Minority Jurors Still Elusive Down South
Mother Jones: The Runaway Jury (Selection Process)
Fire Dog Lake: The NY Times, Elena Kagan and Batson
Democracy Now: Study: African Americans Face Widespread Jury Exclusion in US South
Campus Progress: Study: Age, College Attendance Used to Exclude Black Southern Jurors
Arkansas Times: The color of justice
Nashville Scene: Study Grants Tennessee Juries Dubious Distinction
Atlanta Post: Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection Remains Widespread
Earlier coverage of the report is here; related articles are in the race index.
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