Professor Dr. John Gastil of the Penn State University Department of Communication Arts and Sciences has posted New York Times Weighs in On Voir Dire Discrimination, at Jury and Democracy.
In this post, Professor Gastil comments on State v. Robinson, in which a death sentence was vacated on the ground that the prosecution’s peremptory challenges were racially motivated, in violation of North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act [N.C. Gen. Stat. sections 15A-2010, 15A-2011, and 15A-2012].
Professor Gastil notes that discriminatory jury selection practices harm, not only defendants,but also “prospective jurors themselves, who are denied the civic educational opportunity that the jury provides.”
For more information, please see the complete post.
Tags: Civic education in jury deliberation, Discrimination in jury selection, Discrimination in voir dire, Educational effects of jury deliberation, Effects of jury deliberation, Effects of legal deliberation, John Gastil, Juries, Jury and Democracy, Jury and Democracy Project, Jury decisionmaking, Jury deliberation, Jury selection, Learning in jury deliberation, Legal deliberation, Peremptory challenges, Voir dire
