By Henri Giles*

A recent report by the Equal Justice Initiative has sparked new debate over an old issue—African-Americans and other racial ethnics’ exclusion from serving on juries. There is a trial taking place every day, somewhere in the country that places the life of a racial ethnic person in the hands of 12 individuals. All cases do not make headlines but some, like a high profile police shooting trial in California, are focusing attention on legal tactics that exemplify institutional racism.

The study by the Montgomery, Alabama-based organization focused on court documents and interviews with prospective African-American jurors in eight southern states over a two-year period. Overwhelmingly the group’s findings confirmed an unsettling truth: large numbers of African-Americans and Hispanic/Latino Americans can stand trial and never see anyone who looks like them or has similar cultural experiences sitting in the jury box. After all, defendants have the right to have a jury that is representative of their communities and rights to a selection process that does not make exclusions because of race.

Sheila Washington, a community advocate who works to help make individuals aware of their legal rights, lives is Scottsboro, Ala. She also runs the new Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center which honors the legacy of the landmark 1931 trial. She has seen firsthand what can happen to African-Americans when a jury of their peers does not include African-Americans. “If you’re tried by an all white jury, you don’t have a chance really in Alabama, or in some of these other southern states.” Washington believes the lack of black attorneys and the excess of public defenders representing blacks add to the high conviction rates of African-Americans. 

This problem is not exclusive to the south, nor is it exclusive to African-Americans. “Within the justice system, there are even more pitfalls for a Latino because of the communication barrier, and sometimes their rights are not even shared with them,” says the Rev. Giovanni Arroyo, Team Leader of Monitoring and Advocacy with the General Commission on Religion and Race.   

Washington agrees that this is a concern for the Latino community. “Just recently, a Hispanic person was tried. Because they didn’t have a Hispanic person on his jury, they had to retry his case.” 

A 2007 survey by Citizen Action of New York, a government watchdog group, showed that juries in Manhattan were disproportionately white and that Hispanics were the least represented in jury selection for criminal and civil cases.

“As a trial tactic, I could see the defense not wanting any African-Americans on the jury,” says Angela Brown, a United Methodist and recently retired attorney with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. “But then there are laws to prevent that from happening.” Brown is the lay minister of Outreach Church and Society at Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. 

As a trial lawyer, she was often amazed at the racial ethnic composition of juries. “The African-American community (in San Francisco) has dwindled but it is still always kind of surprising to me when I look out and I have 100 prospective jurors and there’s not a single African-American, or there’s one or two,” says Brown. African-Americans represent approximately seven percent of that city’s population.

In nearby Oakland, Calif. the case of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old African-American man shot to death by a white Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in 2009. The trial against the officer was moved to Los Angeles. The jury was comprised of seven whites, four Hispanic/Latinos and one East Indian. No African-Americans were selected.  

Brown notes that African-Americans in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles were upset there were no African-Americans represented on the murder trial’s jury. The ongoing trial has prompted several protests in the state and continues to receive media coverage.   

Discriminatory practices during the jury selection process are sometimes cloaked in peremptory challenge, which means lawyers can dismiss a potential juror at their discretion and not offer any real basis for the exclusion.

Additionally—and ironically—unjust sentencing and high conviction rates among African-Americans and Hispanics potentially affect the ability for these groups to serve on juries. In many states, anyone convicted of a felony loses his or her right to vote, which eliminates them from voter registration lists. Arroyo adds, “Racial justice deteriorates when we start to remove people (from jury pools) who could relate to the values, experiences and even the norms that we have.” 

Justice for a person on trial must begin before the first witness is called. Eric E. Sterling, president of The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation says, “Having a jury that represents the community and its rich diversity of experience helps the entire jury properly weigh testimony of all the witnesses and avoids the short circuited thinking of racial and ethnic stereotypes.”

When a system is flawed and justice is sometimes fleeting for communities of color, many ethnic groups feel they do not have the voice or power to affect change. One person can make a difference, whether it is advocating for defendants, making members of a community aware, appealing to elected officials to address jury imbalances or simply serving on a jury when called.

 According to Sterling, communities can mobilize against unfair practices in jury selection. Below are ways you can get involved.

Help make a difference:

• Show up for jury duty requests. Serving on a jury is a privilege, not an inconvenience.
• Be an advocate for persons not familiar with criminal justice policies and issues.
• Organize a community or church group to monitor jury selection for local trials.
• Present findings that point to trends of jury discrimination to elected officials at the local and state levels.
• Become dedicated to the cause of justice. You can fight city hall!  

*Henri Giles is a freelance writer and producer based in Nashville, Tenn.