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Full-Text Articles in Law and Race
The Rise And Fall Of Affirmative Action Injury Selection, Avern Cohn, David R. Sherwood
The Rise And Fall Of Affirmative Action Injury Selection, Avern Cohn, David R. Sherwood
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has historically experienced difficulty in achieving jury compositions that truly represented the surrounding community. In response, the Authors share their insight as to how the court instituted a "balancing" program. By reducing the number of white names in the jury wheel, the balancing program successfully incorporated more minorities into the jury system. The Authors further discuss the Sixth Circuit decision, United States v. Ovalle, which marked the end of the balancing program.
The Interplay Of Race And False Claims Of Jury Nullification, Nancy S. Marder
The Interplay Of Race And False Claims Of Jury Nullification, Nancy S. Marder
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
After the verdicts in the OJ Simpson and Stacey Koon/Laurence Powell cases, many in the press explained the juries' acquittals as instances of jury nullification. However these were unlikely to have been instances of nullification, particularly because the jurors explained that their verdicts were based on reasonable doubt. One motivation for these false claims of jury nullification was the homogeneity of the juries-a largely African-American jury in the case of Simpson and a largely white jury in the case of Koon/Powell. Nullification became the term by which press and public attempted to discredit verdicts rendered by juries they distrusted. A …