NC Racial Justice Act on House Floor!

The NC Racial Justice Act (S461) was released by the House Appropriations Committee today and could be heard on the House floor as early as tomorrow!

Opponents of RJA will likely claim that that the state cannot afford the bill, but this claim is short sighted! Under RJA, individuals currently on death row will have only one year to file grievances under RJA. While there may be some initial cost during the first year, the savings associated with any person getting relief from RJA in pretrial or post-conviction hearings will be substantial. The cost will be offset by the savings.

While we can't put a price on justice, RJA will end up saving NC money!

Since the suspension of executions in 2007, three men, Jonathan Hoffman, Edward Chapman and Levon "Bo" Jones, were exonerated from NC's death row. The wrongful convictions of these three African-African men only further highlights the need for the NC Racial Justice Act to be in place before executions resume.

Please take a moment to ask NC House members to support the Racial Justice Act.

Photo courtesy of Jack Payden-Travers

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November 22, 2009

Subject:

Dear Representative,

I am writing to urge your support for the NC Racial Justice Act, S461 in the version passed by the House Ways and Means committee earlier this month. In North Carolina, the race of the victim and defendant are often influential in determining capital sentences. It is unacceptable that race continues to play a role in our use of the death penalty. While there may be some increased short term cost of this bill, the long term effect will be fiscal savings. The NC Racial Justice Act seeks to bring equity into the capital sentencing process by creating an avenue for defendants to address concerns of racial bias. Because NC RJA S461 would only allows for sentences of death to be replaced by sentences of life without parole, supporters and opponents of the death penalty should be united in support for this bill because race should never be a factor when considering a punishment as irreversible as a death sentence. Please vote in favor of the NC Racial Justice Act, S461. Thank you.
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