Racial Justice Act - Today or No Way
From the North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium:
Partners,
We are in a final push to have a vote on the NC Racial Justice Act in the North Carolina Senate. Here's how you can help:
1. Follow the link to write a personal email to each Democratic Senator in the legislature. Tell them the people of North Carolina deserve a vote on this critical legislation. Click here.
2. Forward this email to all your friends.
**YOU MUST ACT NOW AS THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION WILL END ON THURSDAY.**
Thank you for continuing to work hard for the passage of the NC Racial Justice Act. While we are not where we hoped to be at this stage of the legislative session, we are fortunate to have a strong coalition effort and a meaningful death penalty reform bill to push in the legislature.
Please call/email me if you have questions.
Regards,
Jeremy Collins
919.491.2917
jcollins@ncmoratorium.org
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From DW:
In brief, the Racial Justice Act recognizes the possibility that racial bias might play a (conscious or unconscious) role in prosecutorial decisions to seek death and/or juries' decisions to impose capital punishment. The Act would allow defendants and inmates to present evidence that bias played a role in their case. If successful, the claim would affect only sentence, not conviction.
You can read the version of the Racial Justice Act passed by the House here. Information on clergy support for the RJA is here. Recent reporting on Republican attempts to torpedo the bill is here. Miscellaneous blog coverage of the bill is here and here.
- deathwatch's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this page
Frontpaged
And done. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to help.
Response from Ellie Kinnaird
Here is the response I received from the senator for Orange and Person:
Thank you for writing with your support for the Racial Justice Act. The House passed the bill that is now before the Senate. It is very much needed; there are 43 whites and 89 blacks on death row. I have worked hard for the bill since the beginning of session and many others also strongly supported the bill, particularly the Black Caucus. Right now, there is a de facto moratorium on the death penalty because of the conflict between the NC Medical Board that has prohibited their members from participating in executions and the superior court judge that requires a doctor be present at an execution. But the Republicans will amend the bill to override the authority of the North Carolina Medical Board if the bill is heard on the floor. Several Democratic members feel they have to vote for the Republican amendment to get re-elected. If the amendment passed, it would open up executions again. There are currently nine people ready on death row to be executed if the bill as amended passes. I am very sorry that politics has interfered with what is the right and moral public policy.
Sen. Ellie Kinnaird
[Can folks post any responses they receive from other senators? Thanks!]
rock and a hard place
wow, no way to win.
Wake Forest won't play us anymore
Michigan last year
LSU - you are next
Go ASU!
for the record
It is not true that the Medical Board is the only thing preventing executions from starting again. There is an entirely separate lawsuit involving the Council of State and several death row inmates that has nothing to do with the Medical Board's licensing and discipline powers.
Response from Kay Hagan
Here is the response I received from the senator for Guilford:
Thank you for your email. We will keep your concerns in mind.
Some response.
Kind of underwhelming, no?
it's safe to say
...that I have been more whelmed in the past.
But I suppose it's better than not replying at all.
Response from Janet Cowell
Here is the response from the senator from Wake:
Thank you for taking time to let me know how you feel. I will keep your
thoughts in mind as we go forward in the process.
No points for originality
But I'm not sure what say the Treasurer has in this issue.
Two Points
First, I have met Jeremy Collins, and he is a fine man and great advocate.
Second, I received an email from Steve Goss who supports the bill and would bring it to the floor if given an opportunity.
bad news and more bad news
There appears to have been no movement on the Racial Justice Act.
In the meantime, death penalty supporters snuck a bill through the Senate yesterday that expands the list of aggravating factors (those which make a first-degree murder eligible for punishment by death). From my reading, the bill doesn't do much more than give legislators a chance to say that they care about domestic violence - without actually doing anything to stop it.
Thanks a lot, Senators Snow, Atwater, Berger (Doug), Brunstetter, Purcell, and Rand.