Racial Justice Act

More than 300 clergy member sent a letter to lawmakers Wednesday urging them to approve legislation that would give capital murder defendants the right to challenge prosecutions on grounds of racial bias. Several ministers, death-penalty opponents and lawmakers held a news conference Wednesday to highlight the Racial Justice Act. The bill would allow defendants to argue that race improperly played a role in a prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty or in them receiving the sentence. A judge could reduce the sentence to life in prison without parole. The bill passed the House last year and now sits in a Senate committee. The ministers said North Carolina can't afford to be impatient and imprudent when it comes to the lives of its citizens, even those accused of murder. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/25/08).

*Blog Editor Note* NASW-NC supports this bill as well.