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North Carolina Racial Justice Act Stalls

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"'Racial Justice' bill is held in House panel," is James Romoser's report in today's Winston-Salem Journal.A bill aimed at stopping racial bias in the administration of the death penalty stalled yesterday in a legislative committee. The bill, which is known as the "North Carolina Racial Justice Act," would lay out procedures for defendants to challenge the imposition of the death penalty by presenting statistics that show general racial disparities in how the death penalty has been used in previous cases. If a defendant showed statistical disparities, a judge could prevent a prosecutor from seeking capital punishment. The bill would also allow death-row inmates to challenge their death sentences on the same basis, and if successful, their sentences would be converted to life in prison...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on June 04, 2009 (boomark / email).