Is Justice Blind?
Is Justice Blind?
MILLARD K. IVES | Staff Writer
millardives@dailycommercial.com
J uries formed from all-white jury pools in Lake County convicted black defendants 22 percent more often than white defendants, a gap that was nearly eliminated when at least one member of the jury pool was black, according to a Duke University-led study.
The researchers examined 384 non-capital felony criminal cases in Lake County from 2000-2010 and looked at the effects of the age, race and gender of jury pools on conviction rates.
The jury pool in Lake County typically consisted of 27 members selected by a court computer program at random from a list of licensed motorists provided by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
From this group, attorneys chose six seated jurors plus alternates.
"I think this is the first strong and convincing evidence that the racial composition of the jury pool actually has a major effect on trial outcomes," said senior author Patrick Bayer, chairman of Duke's Economics Department, in a press release.
Sarasota County was the other jurisdiction included in the study. Bayer said they chose data from the two Florida counties because these jurisdictions provide more detailed information from court trials than do most other jurisdictions throughout the country.
The eligible jury population in both counties was less than 5 percent black. About 40 percent of the jury pools they examined had no black members and most of the others had one or two black members.
In Lake County, where blacks comprised 50 percent of the defendants, at least one black was placed in jury pools 76 percent of the time. From those pools, at least one black was seated on the jury 36 percent of the time..
Among the key findings in Lake County:
-- In cases with no blacks in the jury pool, blacks were convicted 72 percent of the time, and whites were convicted 50 percent of the time.
-- When the jury pool included at least one black person, the conviction rates were nearly identical: 67 percent for black defendants, 65 percent for whites.
-- About 40 percent of the jury pools they examined had no black members and most of the others had one or two black members.
Leesburg City Councilman and Pastor John Christian, coordinator of Leesburg annual Black History Festival, said the statistics raises concerns.
"Every person should get a fair and equal trial by a jury of their peers," Christian said.
Excluding potential jurors based on race is illegal. Bayer pointed out that there is no evidence that prosecutors and attorneys intentionally eliminate jury candidates by race, something officials with the State Attorney Office in Lake County seconded.
"We have no plans to eliminate blacks or other minorities from juries, I like to think this is democracy in action," said Bill Gross, who tries most of murder cases in Lake County.
Bayer added when blacks were in the Lake County jury pool, they were slightly more likely to be seated on a jury than whites -- with blacks making up 5.1 percent of the jury pools, but 6.1 percent of the seated juries.
Friday, April 27, 2012 - www.dailycommercial.com/042712blind