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Racial Jurymandering: Cancer Or Cure? A Contemporary Review Of Affirmative Action In Jury Selection, Nancy J. King

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Racial and ethnic minorities continue to be substantially underrepresented on criminal juries. At all stages of jury selection-venue choice, source list development, qualified list development, and jury panel and foreperson selection-traditional methods of selection exclude a disproportionate number of minorities. In response, a growing number of jurisdictions are employing race-conscious procedures to ensure that minorities are represented in juries and jury pools in proportions that equal or exceed their percentages in local communities. At the same time, the Supreme Court's most recent pronouncements on affirmative action and standing suggest that these reforms may be short-lived. Professor King suggests that the …