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Dallas DA Craig Watkins to push for law allowing appeals based on racial factors
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he plans to advocate for a state law that would allow criminals to appeal their conviction or sentence on the grounds that race was a factor.
The Racial Justice Act would be based in part on similar laws passed in recent years in North Carolina and Kentucky and would apply, at least initially, only in death penalty cases, Watkins said in an interview Monday. Defendants would be allowed to present evidence from their case or through general statistics to show that race was a significant factor in their prosecution or sentence.
“Throughout history, race has unfortunately played a part, an ugly part, in our criminal justice system,” Watkins said. “This is an opportunity for us to address not only the past, and those individuals who are still being affected by the disparities in treatment, but also in looking forward to make sure that we don’t have those same disparities in our criminal justice system.”
Watkins acknowledged a difficult fight for any such bill in the heavily conservative Texas Legislature. But he said he sees a benefit in floating the proposal now nonetheless because “even if it’s not passed, at least we’ve started the conversation,” he said.
The Racial Justice Act would be based in part on similar laws passed in recent years in North Carolina and Kentucky and would apply, at least initially, only in death penalty cases, Watkins said in an interview Monday. Defendants would be allowed to present evidence from their case or through general statistics to show that race was a significant factor in their prosecution or sentence.
“Throughout history, race has unfortunately played a part, an ugly part, in our criminal justice system,” Watkins said. “This is an opportunity for us to address not only the past, and those individuals who are still being affected by the disparities in treatment, but also in looking forward to make sure that we don’t have those same disparities in our criminal justice system.”
Watkins acknowledged a difficult fight for any such bill in the heavily conservative Texas Legislature. But he said he sees a benefit in floating the proposal now nonetheless because “even if it’s not passed, at least we’ve started the conversation,” he said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20130121-dallas-da-craig-watkins-to-push-for-law-allowing-appeals-based-on-racial-factors.ece
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