North Carolina seeks to restarts its death penalty process

Historically, North Carolina has been a national leader in death sentences, the size of its death row, and the number of executions per year. We're ranked in the top 10 in those categories for years.

This came toa screeching halt in 2006 when the state carried out its last execution. For a varieity of reasons -- most notably problems with the lethal injection process (like finding a doctor willing to do it!), the state halted executions.

Then came the historic Racial Justice Act, passed in August 2009 (Governor Perdue signing it to the left). According to a recent article: "The law allows death row defendants to appeal their sentences on grounds of racial discrimination. If defendants can show statistics proving that race played a role in their sentencing or in a prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty, they would avoid being put to death. The defendants would instead be allowed to serve life sentences without parole ...The legislation has been heralded nationally as a leap for civil rights, notable especially for the South and a state with a history haunted by racial inequity."

North Carolina became only the second state in the nation with such a law, behind only Kentucky. And sure enough, nearly everyone on death row in the state filed a Racial Justice Act claim challenging their death sentence.

Now, the Republicans have taken over the General Assembly and one of their goals is to do away with this law.

Another is to restart executions.

"Although other priorities—balancing the budget and easing unemployment—are expected to take precedence, incoming House Majority Leader Paul "Skip" Stam, R-Wake, has said he's pushing to repeal the Racial Justice Act."

I have no doubt they will get their way.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-racial-justice-act-gop-could-repeal-or-amend-landmark-legislation/Content?oid=1983591