What Does The Batson Doctrine Declare?

What does the Batson doctrine declare? That prosecutorial peremptory challenges based on race are unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court has declared that six-member juries: must be unanimous in their voting.

What is the purpose of the Batson rule?

A defendant in a criminal case can make an Equal Protection claim based on the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges at a defendant’s trial.

What is the Batson decision?

Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling that a prosecutor’s use of a peremptory challenge in a criminal case —the dismissal of jurors without stating a valid cause for doing so—may not be used to exclude jurors based solely on their race.

What is the process of the Batson challenge?

A Batson challenge is a challenge made by one party in a case to the other party’s use of peremptory challenges to eliminate potential jurors from the jury on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or religion. A trial usually begins with jury selection.

How successful are Batson challenges?

Her research covered all of the death penalty cases in North Carolina over a 20-year period since Batson. The results showed that of 7, 421 potential jurors, prosecutors struck 56.2 percent of the eligible black jurors and only 25.7 percent of jurors of other races.

Does Batson apply to defense?

On the bad side, Batson applies to defense challenges just like prosecution challenges. In addition, Batson isn’t limited to challenges of minority jurors; it’s been held to apply to any challenge based on race, including challenging a white juror based solely on his or her race.

Does Batson apply to civil cases?

The court refused on the ground that Batson does not apply in civil proceedings, and the impaneled jury, which consisted of 11 white persons and 1 black, rendered a verdict unfavorable to Edmonson. Held: A private litigant in a civil case may not use peremptory challenges to exclude jurors on account of race.

What happened in the Batson case the first time it was tried?

Batson was an African American. During jury selection, the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to strike the only four African Americans from the jury venire. The resulting jury had only white people. The trial court denied Batson’s motion and the jury convicted him on both counts.

When was the Batson v Kentucky case?

The Batson rule should not be applied retroactively on collateral review of convictions that became final before Batson was announced. A decision announcing a new constitutional rule of criminal procedure is almost automatically nonretroactive where the decision explicitly overrules past precedent.

How do you prove the Batson challenge?

To establish a prima facie showing, a party making a Batson challenge must prove that 1) the stricken juror is in a protected group; 2) the opposing party used a peremptory strike against a member of that protected group; and 3) the facts and circumstances create an inference that the opposing party struck the juror

Does Batson apply to religion?

Dec. 14, 1994) (en bane). One federal circuit court has intimated in dicta that Batson extends to religion.

What must the state do to overcome a Batson challenge?

To preserve a Batson challenge for appellate review, the record must be clear as to the race of the jurors peremptorily challenged by the State as well as the race of the other members of the jury panel (prospective and selected); otherwise, the appellate court will find insufficient evidence in the record to support

What happens when a defendant makes a Batson challenge during the jury selection process?

If the defendant proves a Batson violation during jury selection, the usual remedy is to dismiss the entire panel of potential jurors, declare a mistrial, and select a new jury. Alternatively, a judge can decide to include the challenged juror in the jury, or to give the defendant additional peremptory challenges.