Race and Death

Anti-death penalty advocates want lawmakers to approve a bill that would allow capital murder defendants to challenge prosecutors' decisions as racially biased. The catch is that they may have to accept a move to restart executions in the state to see that happen. Senate Democrats are talking among themselves about trying to pass a measure aimed at addressing racial bias in death penalty cases. The House has already passed a bill that would allow murder defendants to use statistical evidence to suggest that race is a significant factor in prosecutors' seeking the death penalty or in juries' imposing it. The state NAACP president is prodding senators to approve the measure.
If Senate Democrats move forward with it, Republicans see a chance to get something they've been fighting for -- a provision that may allow the state to resume executions. Executions have been stalled for more than a year partly because the Department of Correction cannot find doctors who will take part in them, as the law requires. Last year, the N.C. Medical Board adopted an ethics policy that forbids doctors from doing anything more than being present at executions. Sen. Phil Berger, the chamber's Republican leader, said the racial bias bill may allow the GOP to add a proposal that frees medical personnel to participate in executions without fear of disciplinary action. If Republicans succeed in attaching their death penalty proposal, the Senate is likely to approve overriding the Medical Board's execution policy, senators said.
For death penalty opponents, that complicates the fight. The Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president, doesn't want the two issues combined. "It should stand alone," he said. "This is about people dying simply because of their race." The N.C. Conference of District Attorneys doesn't want statistics to play a role in death penalty cases. "The DAs really think it's an inappropriate element to put into the death penalty process," said Peg Dorer, conference director. The measure would open the way for "statisticians to come in and testify and manipulate statistics," Dorer said. (Lynn Bonner, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/14/08).

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