North Carolina Governor Upholds Racial Justice Act, Calling Bias ​“Unacceptable”

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the bill that would have repealed the state’s Racial Justice Act that was passed in 2009. The Act allows death row inmates to appeal their death sen­tences based on sta­tis­ti­cal stud­ies show­ing racial bias. In issu­ing the veto, the gov­er­nor, who sup­ports the death penal­ty, said, ​“I am veto­ing Senate Bill 9 for the same rea­son that I signed the Racial Justice Act two years ago: it is sim­ply unac­cept­able for racial prej­u­dice to play a role in the impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty in North Carolina.” State courts have only recent­ly begun to hear the first appeals filed under the Racial Justice Act. The Act pro­vides that a death row inmate who receives a reprieve through a racial-dis­crim­i­na­tion chal­lenge will receive a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The Governor also added, “[B]ecause the death penal­ty is the ulti­mate pun­ish­ment, it is essen­tial that it be car­ried out fair­ly and that the process not be infect­ed with prej­u­dice based on race.” Civil rights lead­ers and some fam­i­ly mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims had met with the gov­er­nor and encour­aged her to veto the repeal, which was passed after sig­nif­i­cant changes in the leg­is­la­ture in 2010.

(“Perdue vetoes repeal of Racial Justice Act,” News & Observer, December 14, 2011.) See Race and Recent Legislative Activity.