The Problem with a Peremptory Challange – a Tool of Racial Discrimination Within American Jury Selection Process

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/AdAmericam.24.2023.24.05

Keywords:

peremptory challenge, jury, racial discrimination, Batson v. Kentucky, Batson claim, criminal trial, Batson Rule

Abstract

Jury duty serves as one of the fundamental pillars of American democracy, for it encourages direct citizen participation. Yet, the process of selecting its members is characterised by a flaw in form of a peremptory challenge — a tool with considerable potential for abuse since it permits covert discrimination against members of visible minority groups. Despite not being a procedural right protected by the Constitution of the United States, peremptories have entered the canon of provisions thought to be necessary for preserving the fairness of trial due to their long history of employment in the legal system. In the late 1980s, the Supreme Court in Batson v. Kentucky ruled the exclusion of jurors solely on the basis of their race to be unconstitutional and established the first preventative procedural standard against dubious usage of peremptories in form of the Batson Rule. The effectiveness of the said standard remains questionable, for it did not successfully deal with racial discrimination during voir dire but only enabled to formally object to the questionable juror’s strike. This paper aims to put racial discrimination within the American jury system into a historical perspective, analyze the arguments of both the supporters and the opponents of further peremptory challenge usage and consider probable alternatives that might be implemented to successfully prevent discriminatory practices within the American jury selection process.

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Author Biography

Iga Machnik, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

An M.A. and B.A. graduate of American Studies at the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University. Recipient of the Copernicus Society of America’s scholarship (Dickinson College, USA, 2023). Doctoral student in the Society of the Future program at the Jagiellonian University’s Doctoral School in the Social Sciences. Her main research interests focus on the United States Supreme Court, racial discrimination within American justice system, American South and policies of desegregation. 

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Published

2023-11-29

How to Cite

Machnik, I. “The Problem With a Peremptory Challange – a Tool of Racial Discrimination Within American Jury Selection Process”. Ad Americam, vol. 24, Nov. 2023, pp. 71-81, doi:10.12797/AdAmericam.24.2023.24.05.

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Articles