RALEIGH, N.C. – In 1986, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Batson v. Kentucky declared that racially discriminating against potential jurors violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Since then, North Carolina courts have rarely overturned sentencing decisions based on juror selection, even if a juror was excluded based on race, ethnicity, or sex.
A study by Michigan State University revealed that 20 percent of death row convictions in North Carolina between 1990 and 2009 were sentenced by all-white juries, and another 25 percent were sentenced by juries with only one person of color. The study also found that Black prospective jury members were struck out of eligibility at 2.5 times the rate of other jurors.
As of January 2023, over 60 percent of prisoners on death row in North Carolina are not white.
According to Noel Nickle, the executive director of the N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a lack of racial diversity on the jury tends to over-convict and convict innocent people. Erika Wilson, a UNC School of Law professor and the director of the Critical Race Lawyering Civil Rights Clinic, emphasized the importance of ensuring fair trials, especially in a state with a history of unfair treatment of defendants of color.
Nickle’s statement reflects growing concerns about racist death penalty sentences in the court system. Activists have urged Gov. Roy Cooper to commute all of the state’s death sentences before the end of his term.
“Black people are denied a voice in capital juries, and it’s something that’s systemic,” said Collins, expressing the systemic issue at hand.
In conclusion, the state supreme court’s decision in Tucker’s case highlights the ongoing problem of racial bias in the court system. The issue raises serious questions about the fairness of the death penalty sentencing process, calling for urgent actions to address systemic injustices.