Colored Justice
The opening shots have been fired in the war to destroy North Carolina’s landmark Racial Justice Act which was enacted last year. On Monday, the leadership in the House introduced the bill, originally named “An Act to Reform the Racial Justice Act”, now wisely renamed “No Discriminatory Purpose in Death Penalty”. Both titles are equally deceptive, as they both effectively gut all of the provision of the Racial Justice Act. As is the case with almost every piece of legislation this session, this is a political motivation cloaked in a legal argument.
What makes the Racial Justice Act (RJA) so unique, is that it broke new ground in its recognition of the role that social science research can play in identifying racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. The RJA expressly authorizes a claimant to rely on statistical evidence of race of defendant discrimination, race of victim discrimination, or racial discrimination in jury selection. This directly confronts the legacy of McCleskey v. Kemp, which foreclosed the possibility of meaningful analysis of the role of race in death penalty systems by denying claimants the possibility of bringing claims based on social science research.
By allowing capital defendants to assert race discrimination through statistical evidence encompassing more than a single defendant’s case, the RJA attempted to move beyond the McCleskey straitjacket when addressing claims of race discrimination. You may recall that the RJA was challenged in court a few months ago, and it was ultimately upheld. But that is not enough for conservative legislators, who apparently want to turn the clock back in North Carolina to a time when it was acceptable for racial disparities to influence how suspects are treated in our legal system.
The legal argument for this repeal is essentially a re-argument of what has already been litigated and upheld, claiming the RJA is in constitutional conflict. The political argument, however, is much darker, and it is difficult to see how this can be construed as anything short of proactive legislative racism. After all, the bill was introduced on Monday, the 43rd anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination – it’s hard to believe that was a coincidence.
The bill has been referred to Judiciary Subcommittee B in the House, and has yet to be calendared, but we expect to see it soon. You can be sure that NCSJP, as well as our progressive allies, will be working overtime make sure this disgusting and bigoted piece of legislation will not roll-back hard-fought racial progress in NC, a state with more than its fair share of a shameful racial past.
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