The N.C. House gave its final approval yesterday to a bill known as the North Carolina Racial Justice Act, which would set up new ways for defendants and death-row inmates to argue that capital punishment is applied in a racially biased manner.
The House approved the bill on a vote of 61-53, with most Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
The N.C. Senate previously approved a different version of the bill. Before it can become law, the House and Senate must agree on a single version.
Under the bill, current inmates on death row and defendants in future capital cases could use statistics from other death-penalty cases to try to show racial disparities in how the death penalty is applied. If a judge finds that the death penalty is applied in a racially biased way, the judge could convert a death sentence into a sentence of life in prison without parole.
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