A serious problem has arisen in North Carolina with respect to the sentencing of convicted persons to death row. In fact, the state’s death row population could shrink if it removes 119 who have claimed that they were given the death penalty because of their race.
This past week, all of the inmates were successful in challenging their sentences by asserting that racial bias played a part in their trials and death sentences. If successful, they will have their sentences converted to life without parole under the Racial Justice Act. The state’s Attorney General’s office has received notice that 119 of 159 death row inmates are seeking relief.
The Racial Justice Act, one of only two in the country, was adopted last year after major opposition from prosecutors and law enforcement organizations. Its origin was to provide a legal means to reduce racial disparities in death sentences. Lawyers at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, N.C., expect a sizable number of the sentences will be converted under the law, which was signed into effect Aug. 11, 2009.
A study conducted by Catherine Grosso and Barbara O’Brien of the Michigan State University College of Law revealed that of the 5,800 cases that were eligible for the death penalty from 1990 to 2009, 40 percent had been sentenced by all-white juries or juries with one person of color.
Although the 1875 Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in jury selection, U.S. courts continue to evince severe disparities in conviction and sentencing, despite the 1986 U.S. Supreme Court decision forbidding prosecutors from excluding blacks from juries without reason. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
