| Race still matters in life-and-death cases (NC) |
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December 7, 2011 By Rep. Pricey Harrison The News & Record (Greensboro) Some of my colleagues in the North Carolina General Assembly want you to think this is about your safety. This week, when they voted for legislation that effectively repeals the NC Racial Justice Act, a landmark law that allows the courts to fully examine claims of racial bias, they said the law had to be changed because it could result in convicted murderers being set free. They wanted you to believe that those of us who have supported the Racial Justice Act, including our governor, relish the idea of rolling out the red carpet and ushering killers back into your neighborhoods. The reality is, my colleagues weren’t telling you the truth. Once again, they were playing the politics of fear to avoid the real issues. Despite the arguments of prosecutors and lawmakers opposed to the bill, the law is absolutely clear: No convicted criminal will be released from prison under the Racial Justice Act. The Racial Justice Act allows inmates on death row to have their cases re-examined for evidence that racial bias played a role in their receiving a death sentence. That bias can be systematic or specific to the defendant’s case. If a judge finds that racial bias was a factor, the defendant’s sentence will be converted to life in prison without parole. It’s written in black and white, not a bit of gray area — life in prison without parole. There is no law — state, federal, or constitutional — that would allow these inmates to be released from prison if they won their claims. Now, let’s be honest about why our lawmakers voted to repeal the Racial Justice Act. They’re not ready to confront the reality that race still matters in life-and-death cases. They don’t want to admit that our justice system still places more importance on the lives of white people, and still excludes minorities from positions of power. Last year, studies found that people convicted of killing white victims are almost three times as likely to get the death penalty as those who kill minorities. Another study found that qualified black jurors are being systematically excluded from capital trials. To me and many of my fellow lawmakers, those studies were a red flag. A sign that we needed to look more closely at our capital punishment system. But opponents of the Racial Justice Act simply dismissed them. Now, the first Racial Justice Act case is set to go to court in Cumberland County, where it is to be heard by a respected African American judge, despite the prosecutors’ attempts to oust him. Simply put, prosecutors are afraid they are going to lose that case. They are afraid that decades of discrimination will be exposed in the courtroom. Studies tell us that, in Cumberland, qualified black jurors in capital cases are 2.5 times more likely than white jurors to be dismissed without explanation. Instead of confronting discrimination head-on, prosecutors renewed their calls for a repeal of the Racial Justice Act. And this week, our legislature gave them what they wanted — permission to keep looking the other way and pretending that racism in our court system is a thing of the past. I hope Gov. Perdue will veto the repeal of the N.C. Racial Justice Act. If she does, I, for one, will be voting to uphold her commendable action. The writer is a member of the state House from District 57 in Guilford County. http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/12/07/article/race_still_matters_in_life_and_death_cases
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