Arizona bill would end an effort to stop racial bias in jury selection before it begins

Opinion: A bill reinstating peremptory challenges would end an important experiment in Arizona to fight racial discrimination in courtroom. The Arizona Supreme Court in August enacted a transformative rule: potential jurors can no longer be struck from serving on a trial jury without a reason. The authors are faculty members at Arizona State University [including] Valena Beety [who] is a professor in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and Deputy Director of the Academy for Justice.

“Racial bias and racial bias compounded by poverty or economic struggle really make certain communities much more vulnerable to getting involved in and trapped up in the criminal legal system,” said Valena Beety, a law professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

The ASU Foundation has been awarded a $250,000 grant by the American Arbitration Association – International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) Foundation to explore the development of a statewide system for conducting Sentinel Event Reviews (SER) of police use of force, particularly among vulnerable populations. The award will also fund several actual SERs to demonstrate the concept.

Arizona Capitol Times “Criminal justice reform is a frequent topic of conversation in Arizona, and for good reason. Over the past few decades, Arizona policymakers have been too quick to