Kim
Taylor-Thompson is Professor of Clinical Law at New York University
School of Law:
kim.taylor.thompson@nyu.edu
"The
exclusion of people of color from full participation in jury service
is a serious civil rights violation," says Kim Taylor Thompson, a
national expert in the role of race in criminal juries. "Not only
does it undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system,
it is also likely to create juries more prone to error because of
the lack of participation from diverse communities. This is of
particular concern in Louisiana where the use of majority verdicts
means that any reduction in the number of people of color on juries
can serve to exclude the voice of the African American community as
a whole.”
The
American Civil Liberties Union is committed to defending the
American Bill of Rights and is the leading voice in America’s civil
rights movement.
The
ACLU of Louisiana has confirmed its opposition to the use of race in
jury selection. The Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana, Joe Cooks, may be contacted for comment.
Ph. (504) 522 0628.
The
NAACP Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1940 under the leadership of
Thurgood Marshall and since then has provided national leadership in
the fight for equal justice, particularly for poor
African-Americans.
National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People Legal Defense Fund has also reacted strongly to the
study. Go to their website at
http://www.naacpldf.org/
and call Vanita Gupta, Assistant Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
for comment (212) 965-2239.vgupta@naacpldf.org
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