RRacial Justice Act - 2009 Passage

Lawmakers across the state of North Carolina succceeded in an effort to help eliminate racial bias in our death penalty system. On August 11, 2009, Governor Bev Perdue signed into law the Racial Justice Act (RJA). The new law gives those sentenced to capital punishment and defendants involved in capital cases, the opportunity to present statistical data. This data will determine if race played a key role in the prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty. Defendants in capital cases have up to one year to file their motions under RJA and the August 2010 deadline is approaching. Although, RJA is not a cure-all for racial discrimination in our death penalty system, it provided an opportunity for the court system to pay closer attention to a trend that has eroded the idea of "blind justice."

 

Under the RJA the defendant carries the burden of proving that the decision to seek the death penalty was not based solely on the facts of the case but on inappropriate elements such as ethnicity or race. The most comprehensive study on race and the death penalty in North Carolina was conducted by Dr. Isaac Unnah and John Boger in 2001. They discovered African American defendants were 3.5 times more likely to get the death penalty when their victims were white. This trend in not restricted only to North Carolina, but can be seen in other states as well. North Carolina is the second state after Kentucky to pass a Racial Justice Act and efforts in California are currently underway.

 

In spite of these critical and obvious racial disparities, opponents of RJA continue to cast doubt on the need and effectiveness of the new law. Rep. Rick Glazier from Cumberland County, an unwavering supporter of the Racial Justice Act spoke very keenly to giving the new law time to work. He said, "I think it's a little premature to be revising an act we just passed." Recently, opposition leaders held a press conference to call attention to why the Racial Justice Act should be reformed. Rep. Thom Tillis, an opponent of the Racial Justice Act believes that it will delay justice and stated "It's likely to create as many injustices as it corrects."