JSPAN Testifies in Support of Racial Justice Act

By Marshall Dayan, chair of the JSPAN Death Penalty Policy Center

On July 19, 2010, the House Judiciary Committee of the Pennsylvania Legislature held a hearing on House Bill 1996, the Racial Justice Act, sponsored by Representative Robert Matzie (D-Allegheny/Beaver). The bill would allow defendants charged with or convicted of capital crimes to challenge their death sentences if race was a significant factor in the decision to prosecute or impose the death penalty. The bill explicitly allows for consideration of statistical evidence to prove that race was a significant factor in obtaining a death sentence. Aspects of cases that could be subject to evaluation are the prosecutorial decision to charge someone capitally, the jury selection process, and the sentencing process.

JSPAN presented written testimony, joined by the Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee (PAJC). Marshall Dayan, a board member of both organizations, drafted the testimony, which was edited by JSPAN board members Kenneth Fox and Jeffrey Pasek. Other groups presented written testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc., the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

A Racial Justice Act is perhaps uniquely necessary in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia is one of only two jurisdictions in the United States where social scientists conclude there is a statistically significant correlation between the race of the defendants and the death penalty, the other being Houston, Texas. Philadelphia produced an assistant district attorney, Jack McMahon, who trained other prosecutors how to get away with excluding African-Americans from jury service. Not only have African-Americans been victimized by racial discrimination in application of the death penalty in Pennsylvania, but now Latinos are likewise being targeted in the I- 81/I-83 corridor, with a hugely disproportionate number of residents of death row.

The Torah strictly prohibits unequal justice; “[y]ou shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; judge your kinsmen fairly.” Leviticus 19:15 (Jewish Publication Society, 1985). In our testimony, JSPAN communicated this principle to the committee, and joined it to the American promise of equal justice under law. Whether or not the Racial Justice Act passes during this legislative session, JSPAN has served notice that race discrimination in the criminal justice system, particularly in the imposition of the death penalty, is simply unacceptable.