NC RJA, S461 in Senate Tomorrow!

The NC Racial Justice Act will be heard in the Senate on Wednesday, May 13, 2009.

The following Senators continue to contemplate support for the Racial Justice Act. Please use the email provided below to encourage them to vote in favor of RJA tomorrow. An email is provided but personalizing your letter (and subject line!) will increase its impact.

Keep the following in mind:

Race continues to play an undeniable part in North Carolina’s use of the death penalty.

A defendant in the state of North Carolina is 3.5 times more likely to get the death penalty if their victim is white than if their victim is a person of color.

Prosecutors exclude people of color from sitting on juries in death penalty cases. Many African-Americans on North Carolina’s death row were sentenced to death by all-white juries.

In 2008, three men, Jonathan Hoffman, Edward Chapman and Levon Jones, were exonerated from North Carolina’s death row. All three men are African-American and were accused of killing at least one white victim.

Currently, a person on death row is barred from presenting statistical evidence—often the best and most accessible form of proof—to show that racial discrimination took place in his case.

The NC Racial Justice Act, S461, would allow a person accused of a capital crime the opportunity of a court review of whether race played a part in the prosecutor’s decision to seek the death penalty.

Also, if you have time to call rather than email, please find contact information listed below:

A.B. Swindell-D - (919) 715-3030
John Snow- D - (919) 733-5875
Fletcher Hartsell-R – (919) 733-7223
Jean Preston- R - (919) 733-5706

>>Learn More

November 22, 2009

Subject:

Dear Senator,

I am writing to urge your support for the NC Racial Justice Act, Senate Bill 461. It is a well-documented fact that race continues to play an undeniable role in North Carolina's use of the death penalty. The race of the victim is one of the most significant factors related to a defendant's likelihood of receiving a death sentence vs. life in prison without the possibility of parole. Persons of color are often excluded by prosecutors from capital juries and many of the African-Americans on NC's Death Row were sentenced by all white juries. The "NC Racial Justice Act", Senate Bill 461, seeks to address these racial disparities in NC's capital punishment system. Under the RJA, a defendant would be allowed to present factual evidence to support his or her claim that a sentence of death was improperly obtained on the basis of race. If a defendant is successful in establishing this claim, a court could impose a sentence of life without parole instead of death. Race should never be a factor when considering a punishment as irreversible as a death sentence. I urge your support for the NC Racial Justice Act.
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