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In June 1992 the Louisiana Supreme Court found that Jefferson Parish
prosecutor, Caren Morgan, had struck jurors in the capital murder
trial of Edward Harris. Following this decision, staff from the
Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center (LCAC) conducted a survey of
unprecedented breadth, examining the jury selection practices of the
Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office in 390 trials involving
over 13,000 prospective jurors. (The original study is currently
being expanded and now includes data from over 23,000 jurors).
The results of the study show that prosecutors in Jefferson Parish
strike blacks from jury service at more than three times the rate at
which they strike whites. Statistical analysis by Tulane University
professor of Sociology, Joel Devine, confirm that the study has
established a highly significant racial disparity in the use of
peremptory strikes by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s
office.
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Is the Jefferson Parish
District Attorney's Office racist? |
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60 %
50 %
40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
0 % |
 |
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 BlackWhite |
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Percentage of jurors they
strike from jury service by race |
You can download a copy of the LCAC report here:
 Word
Format
PDF
Format
Jefferson Parish is 22.9% black. Statistical techniques were used
to model the distribution that should be expected if Jefferson
Parish criminal trials were held in front of racially representative
juries. That is, what percentage of juries would be expected to
have 0, 1, 2 etc. black jurors. This was compared with what is
really happening in Jefferson Parish trials.
|
Blacks on Jury |
What it should
be |
What it is |
| 0 |
6% |
22% |
| 1 |
17% |
35% |
| 2 |
24% |
23% |
| 3 |
22% |
12% |
| 4 |
15% |
6% |
| 5 |
8% |
1% |
| 6 |
4% |
1% |
Louisiana allows majority verdicts in all but capital (death
penalty) trials. This means that only ten members of the jury need
agree to announce a conviction, rendering the votes of the other two
jurors ineffective. This means that where there are no black jurors
on a capital trial or two or fewer on a felony trial, there is no
effective black voice on Jefferson Parish juries.
As the above figures show, even though Jefferson Parish is 22.9%
black, there is no effective black voice in a shocking
80% of
criminal trials.
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