Racial Justice Act

Last updated

The North Carolina Racial Justice Act of 2009 prohibited seeking or imposing the death penalty on the basis of race. It passed both the North Carolina State Senate and North Carolina House of Representatives and was signed into law by Governor Bev Perdue. The law was repealed in 2013. (In 1998 Kentucky had passed the first Racial Justice Act in the country. By comparison, it was more narrowly drawn than that in North Carolina.)

Contents

Provisions

North Carolina's act identified types of evidence that might be considered by the court when considering whether race was a basis for seeking or imposing the death penalty, and established a process by which relevant evidence might be used to establish that race was a significant factor in seeking or imposing the death penalty. The defendant had the burden of proving that race was a significant factor in seeking or imposing the death penalty. The state was allowed to offer evidence to rebut the claims or evidence of the defendant. If race was found to be a significant factor in the imposition of the death penalty, the death sentence would automatically be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. [1]

The act applied retroactively to persons on death row, of which there were more than 145 in the state. From 2006, when the state had adopted a moratorium on use of the death penalty, to 2016, only 17 persons had been sentenced to death and added to those on death row.

North Carolina General Assembly repeal attempts

Under pressure from a group of 43 district attorneys, who expressed opposition to the act citing the clog of the court system in the state, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill by a 27-14 vote on November 28, 2011, that would have effectively repealed the Racial Justice Act. [2] However, on December 14, Governor Bev Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed the bill. She said that while she supports the death penalty, she felt it was "simply unacceptable for racial prejudice to play a role in the imposition of the death penalty in North Carolina." [3] The state legislature did not have enough votes to override Perdue's veto.

Major revision (2012)

In 2012 the North Carolina General Assembly passed a major revision of the law authored by Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake). The rewrite "severely restricts the use of statistics to only the county or judicial district where the crime occurred, instead of the entire state or region. It also says statistics alone are insufficient to prove bias, and that the race of the victim cannot be taken into account." But studies have shown that when the victim is white, black defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death if convicted. The bill was vetoed by Gov. Perdue. But this time the legislature overrode the governor's veto. [4]

Repeal

The North Carolina General Assembly voted to repeal the entire law in 2013 and included a provision that nullified any existing claims based on the law by making the repeal apply retroactively. Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican elected in 2012, signed the repeal into law. [5] On June 5, 2020, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled the portion of the repeal that retroactively voided claims based on the law was unconstitutional under the North Carolina state constitution's prohibition on ex post facto laws. [6]

Appeals under act

On April 20, 2012, in the first case appealed under the Racial Justice Act, Judge Greg Weeks, then-Senior Resident Superior Court Judge in Cumberland County (Fayetteville), ruled in favor of the plaintiff Marcus Raymond Robinson that racial bias had influenced his case, automatically commuting his death sentence to life without parole. Robinson contended that when he was sentenced to death in 1994, prosecutors had deliberately kept blacks off the jury. Robinson's lawyers cited a study from Michigan State University College of Law indicating that prosecutors across North Carolina improperly used their peremptory challenges to systemically exclude qualified black jurors from jury service. [7] [8] [9] By 2014, three more cases had been successfully appealed. However, in 2015, the state's Supreme Court vacated the rulings on procedural grounds. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in the United States</span> Killing a person as punishment for allegedly committing a crime

In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 20 of them have authority to execute death sentences, with the other 7, as well as the federal government and military, subject to moratoriums.

The U.S. state of Washington enforced capital punishment until the state's capital punishment statute was declared null and void and abolished in practice by a state Supreme Court ruling on October 11, 2018. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional as applied due to racial bias however it did not render the wider institution of capital punishment unconstitutional and rather required the statute to be amended to eliminate racial biases. From 1904 to 2010, 78 people were executed by the state; the last was Cal Coburn Brown on September 10, 2010. In April 2023, Governor Jay Inslee signed SB5087 which formally abolished capital punishment in Washington State and removed provisions for capital punishment from state law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Maryland</span>

Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013, in the U.S. state of Maryland.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Nebraska. In 2015, the state legislature voted to repeal the death penalty, overriding governor Pete Ricketts' veto. However, a petition drive secured enough signatures to suspend the repeal until a public vote. In the November 2016 general election, voters rejected the repeal measure, preserving capital punishment in the state. Nebraska currently has 11 inmates on death row.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Easley</span> 72nd governor of North Carolina

Michael Francis Easley is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first governor of North Carolina to have been convicted of a felony. The conviction was later expunged by the Chief Judge of the Superior Court of Wake County. A member of the Democratic Party, Easley was North Carolina's second Catholic governor.

Capital punishment was abolished in 2019 in New Hampshire for persons convicted of capital murder. It remains a legal penalty for crimes committed prior to May 30, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat McCrory</span> Governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017

Patrick Lloyd McCrory is an American politician, businessman, and radio host who served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. As of 2023, McCrory remains the only Republican elected as governor of North Carolina in the 21st century. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 53rd mayor of Charlotte from 1995 to 2009.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) is an organization dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty in the United States. Founded in 1976 by Henry Schwarzschild, the NCADP is the only fully staffed nationwide organization in the United States dedicated to the total abolition of the death penalty. It also provides extensive information regarding imminent and past executions, death penalty defendants, numbers of people executed in the U.S., as well as a detailed breakdown of the current death row population, and a list of which U.S. state and federal jurisdictions use the death penalty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 North Carolina gubernatorial election</span>

The 2008 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2008, coinciding with the presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House elections, Council of State and statewide judicial elections. Democrat Bev Perdue won the election. With a margin of 3.39%, this election was the closest race of the 2008 gubernatorial election cycle.

Capital punishment in Connecticut formerly existed as an available sanction for a criminal defendant upon conviction for the commission of a capital offense. Since the 1976 United States Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia until Connecticut repealed capital punishment in 2012, Connecticut had only executed one person, Michael Bruce Ross in 2005. Initially, the 2012 law allowed executions to proceed for those still on death row and convicted under the previous law, but on August 13, 2015, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that applying the death penalty only for past cases was unconstitutional.

Capital punishment was abolished in Colorado in 2020. It was legal from 1974 until 2020 prior to it being abolished in all future cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in New York</span>

Capital punishment was outlawed in the State of New York after the New York Court of Appeals declared it was not allowed under the state's constitution in 2004. However certain crimes occurring in the state that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government are subject to the federal death penalty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bev Perdue</span> American politician and 73rd governor of North Carolina

Beverly Eaves Perdue is an American businesswoman, politician, and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 73rd governor of North Carolina from 2009 to 2013. She was the first and currently to date the only female governor of North Carolina.

Marcus Reymond Robinson was an African-American convicted and sentenced to death in Cumberland County Superior Court for the June 1991 death of Erik Tornblom. Robinson also was sentenced to 40 years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon, 10 years for larceny and five years for possessing a weapon of mass destruction. In April 2012, he successfully appealed against the death sentence under North Carolina's 2009 Racial Justice Act which allowed for a prisoner under sentence of death to appeal for the sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment if racism is proven to be a factor in the original trial. North Carolina Superior Court judge Gregory Weeks found that the Act was applicable in Robinson's case after his lawyers cited a study from Michigan State University indicating that qualified black jurors were systemically excluded from jury service, both generally in North Carolina and at Robinson's trial. Consequently, Weeks ordered his removal from death row. Robinson was the first death row inmate to use the legislation.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moral Mondays</span>

Moral Mondays are protests that originated in North Carolina, United States and emerged elsewhere in the United States. Led by religious progressives, the leaders of the protesters sought to restore "morality" in the public sphere. Protests began in response to several actions by the government of North Carolina which was elected into office in 2013 and are characterized by civil disobedience—specifically entering the state legislature building to be peacefully arrested. The movement protests many wide-ranging issues under the blanket claim of unfair treatment, discrimination, and adverse effects of government legislation on the citizens of North Carolina. The protests in North Carolina launched a grassroots social justice movement that, in 2014, spread to Georgia and South Carolina, and then to other U.S. states such as Illinois and New Mexico.

Capital punishment in Delaware was abolished after being declared unconstitutional by the Delaware Supreme Court on August 2, 2016. The ruling retroactively applies to earlier death sentences, and remaining Delaware death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Despite this, the capital statute for first-degree murder under Title 11, Chapter 42, Section 09, of the Delaware Code has yet to be repealed, though it is unenforceable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act</span> Act passed in the U.S. state of North Carolina in 2016

The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, commonly known as House Bill 2 or HB2, was a North Carolina statute passed in March 2016 and signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory. The bill amended state law to preempt any anti-discrimination ordinances passed by local communities and, controversially, compelled schools and state and local government facilities containing single-gender bathrooms to only allow people of the corresponding sex as listed on their birth certificate to use them; it also gave the state exclusive rights to determine the minimum wage.

House Bill 142 is a 2017 law that was enacted in the state of North Carolina that repealed House Bill 2. The bill states that all "state agencies, boards, offices, departments, institutions, branches of government, including The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System, and political subdivisions of the State, are preempted from regulation of access to multiple occupancy restrooms, showers, or changing facilities, except in accordance with an act of the General Assembly." It also enacted that no local government in this state may enact or amend an ordinance regulating private employment practices or regulating public accommodations until December 1, 2020.

The California Racial Justice Act of 2020 bars the state from seeking or securing a criminal conviction or imposing a sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin. The Act, in part, allows a person to challenge their criminal case if there are statistical disparities in how people of different races are either charged, convicted or sentenced of crimes. The Act counters the effect of the widely criticized 1987 Supreme Court decision in McClesky v. Kemp, which rejected the use of statistical disparities in the application of the death penalty to prove the kind of intentional discrimination required for a constitutional violation. The Act, however, goes beyond countering McClesky to also allow a defendant to challenge their charge, conviction or sentence if a judge, attorney, law enforcement officer, expert witness, or juror exhibited bias or animus towards the defendant because of their race, ethnicity, or national origin or if one of those same actors used racially discriminatory language during the trial. The CRJA only applies prospectively to cases sentenced after January 1, 2021. The Act is codified in Sections 745, 1473 and 1473.7 of the California Penal Code.

References

  1. ↑ Senate Bill 461, General Assembly of North Carolina, Session 2009
  2. ↑ Bufkin, Sarah. "North Carolina General Assembly Votes To Repeal Landmark Racial Justice Law". Think Progress: Justice. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  3. ↑ Jarvis, Greg (2012-12-15). "Perdue veto saves death-row appeal law". The News & Observer .
  4. ↑ "Senate Overrides Veto of Bill Revamping Racial Justice Act" Archived 2014-12-30 at the Wayback Machine , Raleigh News & Observer, 2012
  5. ↑ "McCrory signs Racial Justice Act repeal" Archived 2013-06-24 at archive.today , Charlotte Observer, 19 June 2013
  6. ↑ State v. Ramseur , 374 N.C. 658, 843 S.E.2d 106 (2020).
  7. ↑ "Judge: Racism played role in Cumberland County trial, death sentence converted in N.C.'s first Racial Justice Act case". The Fayetteville Observer . April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Racial bias saves death row man". BBC News. BBC. April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  9. ↑ Zucchino, David (April 20, 2012). "Death penalty vacated under North Carolina's racial justice law". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  10. ↑ Blythe, Anne (December 18, 2015). "NC Supreme Court vacates Racial Justice Act decisions". The News & Observer. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  11. ↑ "North Carolina Court Reverses Racial Justice Act Ruling, Orders New Hearings". Death penalty information center. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.