Show Notes
The Batson rule, prohibiting exclusions from jury based on race, is widely viewed as nearly impossible to enforce in practice. However, where Botson fails, do the Model Rules of Professional Conduct have anything to say?.
The United States has a long history of racial discrimination in juries. In 1875, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act which prohibited race-based discrimination in jury service. Despite the federal law, states continued to remove prospective black jurors. Over time, techniques to exclude nonwhites shifted from vague requirements for jury service to excluding jurors using peremptory challenges. Despite the landmark case Batson v. Kentucky (1986) in which the Supreme Court held that the state may not use peremptory challenges to exclude jurors solely on the basis of race, the practice persists today. Legal ethics scholar, Prof. Peter Joy, explains the Batson standard and the ways in which the framework falls short. He discusses the legal ethics of racial discrimination in jury selection and considers alternatives to peremptory challenges to combat discrimination.
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