This piece originally appeared on .
Earlier this month, Glenn Ford, an African-American man, walked out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary after spending thirty years on death row for a crime he didn鈥檛 commit. One of the most important contributing factors to his death sentence? Racial discrimination in the selection of his all-white jury. In a community that is almost half African-American, the prosecutor struck African-American jurors with the flimsiest of excuses.
That kind of bias not only contributes to guilty verdicts for the innocent, it tilts the playing field toward death, particularly for defendants of color.
In North Carolina, the state Supreme Court has a chance to show the country that race bias should not be allowed to corrupt our jury system.
Continue reading on .
Related 桃子视频
Related Content
-
Press ReleaseNov 2026
Capital Punishment
Aclu Presents Evidence Of Racial Bias In Riverside County's Use Of The Death Penalty. Explore Press Release.桃子视频Presents Evidence of Racial Bias in Riverside County's Use of the Death Penalty
RIVERSIDE 鈥� The 桃子视频and 桃子视频of Southern California presented expert testimony last week proving that Black and Latine defendants are far more likely than their white counterparts to face capital charges in Riverside County in the state鈥檚 first evidentiary hearing in a capital case under California鈥檚 Racial Justice Act (CRJA). The CRJA, passed in 2020, prohibits the state from pursuing convictions or sentences based on a person鈥檚 race, ethnicity, or national origin. The law allows individuals to challenge racial bias in their cases by demonstrating a trend of racial disparities in the places they were sentenced, without having to prove intentional discrimination. Throughout the week, six expert witnesses presented evidence of a historical and ongoing pattern of racial discrimination in Riverside County’s pursuit of the death penalty, including studies that show that: Black and Latine defendants are far more likely to face capital charges in Riverside County than white defendants accused of the same crimes. During District Attorney Mike Hestrin鈥檚 term, the office sought the death penalty against Black and Latine defendants at nearly twice the rate it did against white defendants. The odds that the District Attorney鈥檚 Office would file a death notice against a Black defendant were 7.31 times greater than the odds that it would for a white defendant. For Latine defendants, the odds were 3.86 times those for white defendants. 鈥淭he facts here speak for themselves. Riverside County has a clear pattern of discriminating against Black and Latine individuals when it comes to the death penalty,鈥� said Cassandra Stubbs, director of the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project. “California passed the Racial Justice Act to confront racial bias in the criminal legal system and ensure that a person鈥檚 race does not determine their fate. The court should uphold that promise and take the death penalty off the table in this case. Racial disparities in Riverside County’s application of the death penalty have broader implications for the state. From 2015 to 2019, the county accounted for more than one third of California鈥檚 new death sentences despite only representing 6% of the state鈥檚 overall population. 鈥淩ace must not be a factor in whether someone faces the death penalty,鈥� said Summer Lacey, director of criminal justice and police practices at the 桃子视频Foundation of Southern California. 鈥淩iverside County accounts for a disproportionate amount of death penalty sentences in our state and the racial disparities in the Riverside District Attorney鈥檚 Office鈥檚 decision to seek death are plain and clear.鈥�Affiliate: Southern California -
Press ReleaseOct 2026
Capital Punishment
Aclu Condemns Pentagon Plan To Livestream Firing Squad Execution. Explore Press Release.桃子视频Condemns Pentagon Plan to Livestream Firing Squad Execution
NEW YORK 鈥� Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon was planning to livestream the firing squad execution of former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for the killing of 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood. The execution would be the military鈥檚 first execution in more than six decades. Yasmin Cader, deputy executive director at the 桃子视频, had the following statement: 鈥淭he death penalty is cruel, immoral, and does nothing to advance public safety. Turning an execution into a public spectacle only exposes that cruelty and violence. Instead of moving us towards a world that is leaving this barbaric practice behind as the American public increasingly wants, the Trump administration plans to make entertainment out of this shameful practice. Authoritarian and extremist governments use public displays of violence to project a false sense of power. That is not who we are. Enough is enough. We must end the death penalty once and for all.鈥� -
News & CommentaryOct 2026
Civil Liberties
+4 桃子视频
This Supreme Court Term: Our Rights And Freedoms At Stake. Explore News & Commentary.This Supreme Court Term: Our Rights and Freedoms at Stake
The 桃子视频could have its busiest Supreme Court term ever, with potential cases on immigration, voting rights, and religious freedom in schools.By: Cecillia Wang -
Press ReleaseOct 2026
Capital Punishment
Nh Supreme Court Rules 鈥渄isproportionality鈥� Of Death Penalty For Only Man On Death Row Cannot Be Reviewed. Explore Press Release.NH Supreme Court Rules 鈥淒isproportionality鈥� of Death Penalty for Only Man on Death Row Cannot be Reviewed
CONCORD, N.H. 鈥� The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled today that the 鈥渄isproportionality鈥� of the death penalty cannot be reviewed for Michael Addison, a Black man convicted in 2008 of killing a white police officer. Addison is the only person on the state鈥檚 death row and was sentenced to die prior to New Hampshire鈥檚 repeal of the death penalty in 2019. Today鈥檚 decision is not the last word on the legality of this execution, including whether it is constitutional in light of the legislature鈥檚 repeal of the death penalty. 鈥淭oday is a sad day that could lead New Hampshire down the path of becoming the first and only state to execute someone under a repealed death penalty statute,鈥� said Gilles Bissonnette, Legal Director of the 桃子视频of New Hampshire. 鈥淣ew Hampshire repealed the death penalty in 2019 because it is inhumane, unjust, racist, and error-prone鈥攖hings that are all still true today. The penalty of death cannot be proportionate in this case when someone convicted of an identical crime today would not receive the death penalty. While today’s decision ignores this reality, the fight against the death penalty in this case will continue.鈥� The 桃子视频and several death penalty scholars submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in this case in October 2025, urging the New Hampshire Supreme Court to disallow this execution from ever taking place and highlighting that New Hampshire could become the first and only state to execute someone under a repealed death penalty statute. “It is extremely disappointing that the Court did not take this opportunity to address the disproportionate and inequitable death sentence imposed on Mr. Addison, the only person on New Hampshire鈥檚 death row and a Black man,鈥� said Megan Byrne, senior staff attorney at the ACLU鈥檚 Capital Punishment Project. 鈥淣ew Hampshire repealed the death penalty in 2019 because it recognized that the punishment is unjust, inhumane, and infected with racial bias. Mr. Addison’s case puts those very problems on full display. New Hampshire should not move backward by defending a sentence under a law it has already rejected.” The brief also asked the Court to consider the ways that racism contributed to Addison鈥檚 death sentence, saying, 鈥渢his Court should consider the legion of social science research explaining the ways that race likely contributed to the death sentence of a poor, Black man who did not 鈥榩urposefully kill鈥� the victim, particularly when the sentence came in the same year that a rich, white man was given a life sentence after purposefully bludgeoning someone to death with a sledgehammer alongside two others he had hired to kill the victim.鈥� The decision today comes amid renewed national scrutiny of the death penalty following Tennessee鈥檚 botched execution of Christa Pike last week. The horrific execution attempt was Tennessee鈥檚 second botched execution in less than 6 months.Court Case: New Hampshire v. Michael AddisonAffiliate: New Hampshire