Derek Willis finds some actual journalism in progress in Dallas.
Steve McGonigle, Holly Becka, Jennifer LaFleur and Tim Wyatt of the Dallas Morning News studied the composition of juries in Dallas County, finding that prosecutors excluded eligible blacks from juries at more than twice the rate they rejected eligible whites& In fact, being black was the most important personal trait affecting which jurors prosecutors rejected, according to the newspaper s statistical analysis. Jurors attitudes toward criminal justice issues also played an important role, but even when blacks and whites answered key questions the same way, blacks were rejected at higher rates.
This is completely unsurprising. Dallas County has a long, long history of illegally keeping blacks off juries. Read this article, for example.
However, I had no idea the prosecutors were keeping a database of “good” and “bad” jurors. What a bunch of creeps.
So, pointing out something that everyone with a brain already knows happens counts as “actual journalism”.
What kind of sheltered existance do you lead? Have you ever lived in a major city and got called for jury duty? Have you ever had a conversation with either an ADA, or judge, or cop (white, black or latino) in a major city?
Now, we can get into all the societal reasons for why this is the case, but if Dallas is anything like it is here in Philly, statistics show that the defendant is likely to be black (the victim is too). So, obviously if it’s a black defendant, they’re gonna try and limit the number of black jurors.
That doesn’t make it right, and the fact is, black juries convict black defendants all the time. I’m not defending it. I’m just shocked that you’re so shocked.
O.Y.E.,
Go to google and search under “philadelphia district attorneys office black juries Jack Mcmahon” and watch what comes up. Oh heck, I’ll just tell you what comes up. It’s a 1997 story about a video that surfaced from 1986 in which Jack McMahon, then an ADA, now one of the top defense attorneys in the city, is training newly hired ADA’s on how to limit the number of blacks on a jury.
I’m not saying it’s right. Again, I’m just saying it goes on everywhere and i’m not sure why Oliver is shocked by it.
I’m sure this goes on in places like Philly, but Dallas has raised this to an art form. First of all, I don’t know of any other prosecutor’s office where excluding blacks from juries was not just an accepted practice, but an actual WRITTEN POLICY. These prosecutors used actual written guidelines in their office handbook between the 1960s and at least the early 1990s about how to get rid of “undesirable” jurors. And it also came out that the DA’s office was keeping an immense computer database of the names, addresses and other personal information about everyone who’s ever served on a jury in Dallas County. Again, this was done so the state could pack the jury with jurors who would vote to convict.
This IS journalism.
But the only reason we know it’s going on everywhere is (mostly) because journalists are bringing it to our attention.
“… training newly hired ADA s on how to limit the number of blacks on a jury.”
Unfortunately, the OJ Simpson trial provides all the “proof” that proponents of this strategy need.
I would also guess that the same strategy applies to women; after all, it is a common notion that women are “softer” than men, and it could be argued that a disproportionate number of sympathetic women could sway a jury into a not guilty verdict.
Ultimately, though, wouldn’t we be much better off if we worked to successfully keep young blacks out of the judicial system, instead of trying to solve the problem with a litany of quotas and rules for courtrooms and prisons?