Call on NC House to Pass clean Racial Justice Act!

CALL ON NC HOUSE: PASS CLEAN RACIAL JUSTICE ACT!

On May 14, 2009 the North Carolina Senate passed an amended version of the Racial Justice Act. Unfortunately, the Senate’s amended version has created negative features. In particular:

•    The amendments add language to death penalty protocol allowing executions to resume without resolving questions related to the Council of State’s approval of the lethal injection protocol;
•    The amendments also limit the use of statistical evidence to the surrounding judicial districts as opposed to a more broadly inclusive statewide collection base.

By passing the Racial Justice Act, the NC Senate acknowledged that racial bias is a serious problem in capital sentencing in North Carolina and called for new court procedures to address these problems.   At the same time, however, they removed checks on the death penalty system so that the bill could also be used to restart executions.

The Racial Justice Act is intended to address documented issues of racial bias in capital sentencing in North Carolina. To use this legislation as a pretext to restarting executions is directly opposed to its original intent and completely inappropriate in this context.

From News 14 Carolina: "Groups Protest Death Penalty Bills Amendments" by Jessica Cervantez

>>Learn More

November 22, 2009

Subject:

Dear Representative,

In the coming weeks, the Senate version of the NC Racial Justice Act will come before the House. It is essential that the House restore the Racial Justice Act to the version that passed the House Ways and Means and Judiciary I committees in April of this year. The amendment added by the Senate aimed at restarting executions must be removed. A decision issued by the Superior Court immediately following the passage of the Racial Justice Act in the Senate will likely end the current moratorium on the death penalty in NC. As such, attempts to use the Racial Justice Act as a mechanism to restart executions are both premature and inappropriate within the context of this legislation. I also ask that the House restore the use of statewide statistics to the Racial Justice Act. Limiting statistics to anything less than a statewide sample dilutes the strength of the bill and inappropriately restricts information available to defendants when attempting to prove disproportionate sentencing on the basis of race. Before executions restart in NC, every effort must be made to remove racial bias from capital sentencing. Please support a clean Racial Justice Act from the NC House. Thank you.
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