RACIAL JUSTICE ACT SIGNED BY GOVERNOR

It's Official! After years of hard work to reduce racial bias in North Carolina's criminal justice system, the NC Racial Justice Act was passed and officially signed into law by Governor Beverly Perdue on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009. North Carolina is the second state behind Kentucky to pass such an act.

What the RJA Does - This newly effective act will allow defendants accused of capital crimes and those currently on death row to use statistics to help prove to the courts that their cases were racially biased. Similar statistics are currently used to help prove discrimination in housing and employment legal disputes.

"I have always been a supporter of the death penalty, but I have always believed it must be carried out fairly," Governor Beverly Perdue said before signing the bill. "The Racial Justice Act ensures that when North Carolina hands down our state's harshest punishment to our most heinous criminals - the decision is based on the facts and the law, not racial prejudice."

Gov. Perdue Supports RJA - Gov. Perdue wants justice to be blind in North Carolina's criminal justice system. "While our criminal justice system will continue to have the death penalty, racial disparities have no place whatsoever in North Carolina's criminal justice system," Perdue said.

Leaders for RJA - Efforts to pass this historic legislation were led by Winston-Salem Democrats, Representative Larry Womble and Earline Parmon, Durham Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr., NC House Speaker Joe Hackney, NC House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman and the NC Legislative Black Caucus led by Representative Alma Adams. NC Senators Charlie Dannelly, Dan Blue, Doug Berger, Dan Clodfelter, Ellie Kinnaird and Martin Nesbitt joined by Representatives Bill Faison, Phil Haire, Angela Bryant, Deborah Ross, Earl Jones and Rick Glazier were also instrumental in passing the NC Racial Justice Act. Many advocates worked long and hard for the passage of this bill from the NC Coalition for a Moratorium on Executions, People of Faith against the Death Penalty, the ACLU, the NAACP and many other groups.

CJPC Director Receives Historic Pen - North Carolina NAACP President Dr. William J. Barber, II and Charmaine Fuller Cooper, Carolina Justice Policy Center Executive Director received two of the Gubernatorial Inkpens used to sign the historic legislation.