Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Law and Race
An Analysis Of The Legal And Practical Implications Of The Potential Increased Participation In Jury Service By Racial Minorities In The U.S. Criminal Justice System, Brian Keith Leonard
An Analysis Of The Legal And Practical Implications Of The Potential Increased Participation In Jury Service By Racial Minorities In The U.S. Criminal Justice System, Brian Keith Leonard
West Virginia Law Review
No abstract provided.
Confronting The Invisible Witness: The Use Of Narrative To Neutralize Capital Jurors' Implicit Racial Biases, Pamela A. Wilkins
Confronting The Invisible Witness: The Use Of Narrative To Neutralize Capital Jurors' Implicit Racial Biases, Pamela A. Wilkins
West Virginia Law Review
How can capital defense lawyers craft narratives that neutralize jurors' unconscious racial and ethnic biases? A well-developed body of research in cognitive psychology indicates that despite even the best of intentions and the absence of conscious prejudice, most Americans harbor unconscious biases against African Americans. These biases influence what we actually perceive, how we interpret what we perceive, and how we act. For reasons related to the content and structure of capital sentencing trials, these unconscious biases are particularly likely to influence capital jurors. In effect, unconscious racial bias acts as an invisible witness against the African American defendant, buttressing …
Ask And What Shall Ye Receive? A Guide For Using And Interpreting What Jurors Tell Us, Barbara O'Brien, Samuel R. Sommers, Phoebe C. Ellsworth
Ask And What Shall Ye Receive? A Guide For Using And Interpreting What Jurors Tell Us, Barbara O'Brien, Samuel R. Sommers, Phoebe C. Ellsworth
Articles
We review the extensive body of studies relying on jurors' self-reports in interviews or questionnaires, with a focus on potential threats to validity for researchers seeking to answer particularly provocative questions such as the influence of race in jury decision-making. We then offer a more focused case study comparison of interview and questionnaire data with behavioral data in the domain of race and juror decision-making. Our review suggests that the utility of data obtained from juror interviews and questionnaire responses varies considerably depending on the question under investigation. We close with an evaluation of the types of empirical questions most …
Performing Discretion Or Performing Discrimination: Race, Ritual, And Peremptory Challenges In Capital Jury Selection, Melynda J. Price
Performing Discretion Or Performing Discrimination: Race, Ritual, And Peremptory Challenges In Capital Jury Selection, Melynda J. Price
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Research shows the mere presence of Blacks on capital juries-- on the rare occasions they are seated--can mean the difference between life and death. Peremptory challenges are the primary method to remove these pivotal participants. Batson v. Kentucky developed hearings as an immediate remedy for the unconstitutional removal of jurors through racially motivated peremptory challenges. These proceedings have become rituals that sanction continued bias in the jury selection process and ultimately affect the outcome of capital trials. This Article deconstructs the role of the Batson ritual in legitimating the removal of African American jurors. These perfunctory hearings fail to meaningfully …
How Much Do We Really Know About Race And Juries? A Review Of Social Science Theory And Research, Samuel R. Sommers, Phoebe C. Ellsworth
How Much Do We Really Know About Race And Juries? A Review Of Social Science Theory And Research, Samuel R. Sommers, Phoebe C. Ellsworth
Articles
The past decade has witnessed numerous high-profile criminal trials in which controversial verdicts have been attributed to racethe race of the defendant, the racial composition of a jury, an attorney "playing the race card," and so on. A predominantly Black jury's acquittal of O.J. Simpson and White jurors' leniency in the police brutality cases of Rodney King and Amadou Diallo not only sparked public debate, but also led to rioting and violence. In the wake of trials such as these, many have questioned the viability of the American jury system.' More specific questions regarding the influence of race on jury …
Race In The Courtroom: Perceptions Of Guilt And Dispositional Attributions, Samuel R. Sommers, Phoebe C. Ellsworth
Race In The Courtroom: Perceptions Of Guilt And Dispositional Attributions, Samuel R. Sommers, Phoebe C. Ellsworth
Articles
The present studies compare the judgments of White and Black mock jurors in interracial trials. In Study 1, the defendant’s race did not influence White college students’ decisions but Black students demonstrated ingroup/outgroup bias in their guilt ratings and attributions for the defendant’s behavior. The aversive nature of modern racism suggests that Whites are motivated to appear nonprejudiced when racial issues are salient; therefore, the race salience of a trial summary was manipulated and given to noncollege students in Study 2. Once again, the defendant’s race did not influence Whites when racial issues were salient. But in the non-race-salient version …
The Future Of The Post-Batson Peremptory Challenge: Voir Dire By Questionnaire And The "Blind" Peremptory, Jean Montoya
The Future Of The Post-Batson Peremptory Challenge: Voir Dire By Questionnaire And The "Blind" Peremptory, Jean Montoya
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article examines the peremptory challenge as modified by Batson and its progeny. The discussion is based in part on a survey of trial lawyers, asking them about their impressions of the peremptory challenge, Batson, and jury selection generally. The Article concludes that neither the peremptory challenge nor Batson achieve their full potential. Primarily because of time and other constraints on voir dire, the peremptory challenge falls short as a tool in shaping fair and impartial juries. While Batson may prevent some unlawful discrimination in jury selection, Batson falls short as a tool in identifying unlawful discrimination once it …
Constitutional Law-Exclusion From Juries On Grounds Of Race And Color-Scottsboro Case
Constitutional Law-Exclusion From Juries On Grounds Of Race And Color-Scottsboro Case
Michigan Law Review
A negro convicted of rape in one of the so-called "Scottsboro" cases moved to quash the indictment and the trial venire, alleging systematic exclusion of negroes from the grand and petit juries on the grounds of race and color. The trial court overruled the motions, and the Alabama Supreme Court sustained this decision, holding that the evidence failed to establish such exclusion. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, that the refusal to quash the indictment and trial venire was a denial of equal protection of the laws contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment, since the evidence on …