Criminal
Jun. 26, 2020
AB 3070 will help our legal system meaningfully address racial bias
If our legal system is to be preserved, the problem of racial bias must be meaningfully addressed. Because the underrepresentation of people of color from juries does more than undermine faith in the justice system; it offends the very idea of justice itself.
Jacqueline Goodman
One hundred forty-four years ago, Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1875, prohibiting African-Americans from being excluded from jury service. And, sure as night follows day (well, about 37,000 days), the California Supreme Court held, in People v. Wheeler, 22 Cal. 3d 258 (1978), that attorneys in criminal trials are forbidden from striking potential jurors based on race, ethnicity or religion. And, a mere decade afte...
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