STUDIES: Racial Bias in Jury Selection

A new study of tri­als in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, revealed that poten­tial jurors who were black were much more like­ly to be struck from juries than non-blacks. The results were con­sis­tent with find­ings from Alabama, North Carolina, and oth­er parts of Louisiana, high­light­ing an issue that will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. 

In Caddo Parish, an area known for its many death sen­tences, pros­e­cu­tors used peremp­to­ry strikes against 46% of black jurors, but only 15% of oth­er jurors, accord­ing to the study by Reprieve Australia. (Click to enlarge image.) The racial com­po­si­tion of the juries appeared to make a dif­fer­ence in the ulti­mate out­come of the cas­es. The study found that no defen­dants were acquit­ted by juries with 2 or few­er black jurors, but 19% were acquit­ted when 5 or more jurors were black.

In an Alabama study, pros­e­cu­tors used peremp­to­ry strikes to remove 82% of eli­gi­ble black poten­tial jurors from tri­als in which the death penal­ty was imposed. A study of death penal­ty cas­es in North Carolina found that pros­e­cu­tors struck 53% of black poten­tial jurors but only 26% of others. 

In the death penal­ty case from Georgia that will be heard by the Supreme Court, Foster v. Chatman, all black prospec­tive jurors were exclud­ed from the jury. Prosecutors marked the names of black prospec­tive jurors with a B and high­light­ed those names in green. Whenever such poten­tial jurors had not­ed their race on ques­tion­naires, pros­e­cu­tors cir­cled the word ​“black.”