Examples Of Peremptory Challenges Are Ruining The Justice System

The purpose behind this paper is to inform the reader about the importance and the influential outcome of the Batson V. Kentucky case. A simple overview of the case is the offender James Batson was an African American male from Kentucky. Batson was accused of burglary and receiving stolen merchandise in 1981. During the court proceedings, the judge conducted voir dire to determine the ability of the jurors and discharge the jurors that did not meet the proper qualifications. When it was the prosecutors turn to make peremptory challenges, he utilized four out of the six challenges to remove the four African Americans who were left on the jury panel.

The defense argued that the peremptory strikes were based off of race. Snyder appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which found that the judge did not act unreasonably in dismissing the case as a Batson violation. This case parallels the case at hand. The prosecutor used their peremptory strikes to remove the black jurors for pretext reasons, not justifiable ones. In Foster’s case, the court used reasons such as the jurors being too close in age to the defendant, Foster, to strike a prospective juror.

However, when the jury selection process of his trial was underway, the State used peremptory challenges to strike every black prospective juror that was qualified- four to be exact. This selection process had two phases-

In a country where people are promised equal and fair treatment regardless of their gender or racial identity, Stevenson, through McMillian, shows the gory side of the reality that exists within the United States’ judicial system. A system that offers justice to some and victimizes

Secondary Annotated Bibliography Brewer, Thomas W. "Race and Jurors' Receptivity to Mitigation in Capital Cases: The Effect of Jurors', Defendants', and Victims' Race in Combination. " Law and Human Behavior 28, no. 5 (2004): 529-45. The article begins by explaining the importance of Furman v. Gerogia (1972). Furman v. Gerogia (1972) was a Supreme Court case that decided that death sentences were being handed down in an arbitrary and standard less manner.

Throughout history the differences found in human beings have created multitude of problems in society. Today, problems are directed towards a person’s race and ethnicity. People of different color, race, and ethnicity are often discriminated towards, and result in the segregation of culture groups. There are many examples of this found throughout case trials since the twentieth century and beyond. The Emmett Till case, for example, demonstrates the outcome of having a jury that is all from the same ethnicity, and allows common people to understand the effect this has on the justice system.

Title: Unveiling Racial Bias: A Critical Analysis of "Just Mercy" in the Late 20th Century The late 20th century saw the persistence of racial bias in the American criminal justice system perpetuating systemic inequalities and denying individuals their fundamental rights. Bryan Stevensons book, "Just Mercy," explores this troubling reality. Recounting his experiences as a lawyer fighting against racial bias.

The aforementioned case brings about an interesting and sobering question about racial discrimination and bias and its role in the courtroom. In this instance, the defendant Duane Buck was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend, and her friend in front of their young children. During the cases, sentencing hearing the defendant called upon a psychologist (Quijano) who stated, under oath that “It’s a sad commentary that minorities, Hispanics, and black people, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system”. The prosecutor followed that by asking “The race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons — is that correct?” To which Quijano responded, “yes”.

This was particularly true in cases where Brown was accused of being involved in prison riots or other violent incidents. In these cases, the evidence was often based on the testimony of other inmates or correction officers, which could be unreliable due to the complex power dynamics of prison life. Another factor that influenced the outcome of Brown’s trial was the biases of the jurors. In many of his trials, Brown was an African American man facing a predominantly white jury. This created a significant potential for racial bias, which could influence the jurors’ perceptions of the evidence and the defendant.

There are many racist caucasian people that serve in juries. They believe that African Americans should be in a position under them so they would do whatever they could to keep them down. During the Scottsboro Trials nine African American men were arrested for something that they did not do. They were accused of raping two white girls

Stevenson closely examines the role of racism in the criminal justice system showing how America’s past still haunts the present. Through his experiences as a lawyer, he recognizes

The case shows that there is in fact racial discrimination in the American Criminal Justice system and that the system itself has honestly admitted that it is flawed. It illustrates that the system still needs to be scrutinized when it comes to convicting people of color and that America still does not treat everyone equally as its laws claim. This decision will produce several more appeals by individuals who feel that they may have been convicted based upon their skin color and may lead to several convictions

When they were tried, the biased juries would prosecute them as guilty; innocent or not. Appeals were needed to give them a second chance. Harper Lee comments on this social issue in “To Kill a Mockingbird” when Tom Robinson faces a biased jury. Biased juries and appeals are shown in the Mack Ingram trial as well as the Tom Robinson

In America, criminal justice has been an issue for generations. People are convicted of crimes and their convictions are oftentimes based on their race and/or social status. Unfortunately, it is a reality that the criminal justice system privileges those who are “rich and guilty rather than if they are poor and innocent. Many African American men and women have suffered due to this. In the book Just Mercy and the movie 13th, both sources give great examples of how the criminal justice system continues to overlook the truth to keep black Americans incarcerated.

Coker gives great evidence that supports racial injustice in the criminal justice system. She discusses on the Supreme Court’s rulings and accusations of racial preference in the system. This article is helpful because it supports my thesis on race playing a role on the system of criminal justice. Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1997). Public perceptions of race and crime: The role of racial stereotypes.