Allegations of racial bias in trials have cropped up repeatedly in the Carolinas. Investigators, prosecutors, jurors and even defense attorneys have used racially offensive language or racial stereotypes in preparation for or during trials. Any capital punishment system that condones racial bias has an obvious flaw. Minority defendants start out with an intolerable and indefensible disadvantage compared to white defendants. And there are questions about the racial makeup of the juries who decide the guilt or innocence of defendants and then determine whether a convicted person gets the death penalty.
Black citizens are underrepresented on juries.
Prosecutors often excuse potential black jurors because they are less likely to favor the death penalty - and less likely to vote for a death penalty conviction. So far the courts have done little or nothing to correct those imbalances. Until legal authorities can make a better case that capital punishment is meted out in an equitable system where all defendants have adequate legal representation and where judges, prosecutors and jurors do their work fairly and ethically, executions in the Carolinas should stop. It is time to take a cold hard look at a system that is stacked against some defendants, and which risks putting to death innocent citizens.