JIM CROW JURIES
Fighting to Right a Historic Wrong
Since 2018, the Promise of Justice Initiative has organized to abolish Jim Crow Juries in Louisiana. Through our court system and our legislature, we successfully ended the practice of non-unanimous juries prospectively.
THE FIGHT TO END JIM CROW JURIES
On November 6, 2018, Louisiana’s Constitutional Amendment 2 passed with 64% of the vote and ended Louisiana’s Jim Crow Juries law for crimes alleged to have been committed after January 1, 2019.
On April 20. 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court deemed non-unanimous juries unconstitutional in our landmark case Ramos v. Louisiana. The court ruled that jury verdicts in criminal trials must be unanimous under the 6th amendment of the US constitution. This opinion, again, impacted cases in the judiciary prospectively and did not offer a form of relief to the 1,500 men and women who remained incarcerated with unconstitutional convictions.
From the moment the Ramos decision was issued, the Promise of Justice Initiative had one year to file post-conviction relief (PCR) applications for anyone convicted by a non-unanimous jury. Louisiana law only allows people to apply for post-conviction relief within one year of a decision affecting constitutional law. We spoke to over 2,000 people incarcerated across Louisiana, we requested countless records and spoke to loved ones as we attempted to find documentation for people convicted by non-unanimous juries all over the state.
By the deadline of April 19, 2021, PJI had filed over 1,000 PCRs in Judicial District Courts all over Louisiana. Our goal was to make sure nobody convicted by a Jim Crow Jury was left behind.
Unfortunately, On May 17, 2021, in Edwards v. Vannoy, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to make the Ramos decision retroactive.
On May 10, 2022, in State v. Reddick, the Promise of Justice Initiative argued to the Louisiana Supreme Court that the unconstitutionality of non-unanimous juries should be applied retroactively. Unfortunately, on October 21, 2022, the Louisiana Supreme Court refused to make the Ramos decision retroactive and instead put the burden on the Louisiana legislature to right this wrong.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF JIM CROW JURIES
The committee on 10-2 is a committee established by people incarcerated throughout Louisiana with the sole mission of building a coalition of supporters. Its purpose is to shed light on the state of Louisiana's discriminatory laws and its desire to uphold "Jim Crow" exclusionary practices.
Established in 2023, the committee on 10-2 have over 1500 incarcerated men and women members who refused to be forgotten and demand an end to Jim Crow Juries once and for all.
ORGANIZING FOR RETROACTIVITY
THE LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE
On May 25, 2023, HB 588, the non-unanimous jury bill, was voted down in the House. The Louisiana Legislature continues to betray the 1500 people who remain incarcerated with illegal non-unanimous jury convictions – Jim Crow Juries.
Promise of Justice Initiative, a leader in this fight, tried working with the legislature to address our concerns and the concerns of the state’s district attorneys, while maintaining that some avenue for relief must be made available to those wronged by the illegal and racist practice of non-unanimous convictions. After the Louisiana District Attorneys Association and representatives thoroughly crippled the bill, because HB 588 no longer provides a solution for those unconstitutionally incarcerated, and had the potential to make matters worse, PJI no longer backed this bill.
The men and women convicted by Jim Crow Juries and their families who have fought and continue to fight for them, are owed meaningful legal avenues to the relief from the state of Louisiana.
We will not rest until Louisiana rights this historical wrong.