Louisiana votes to eliminate Jim Crow era law

One of the biggest victories during this year’s mid term elections is one that puts an end towards a 138 year-old Jim Crow era law.

Louisiana puts an end to Jim Crow era Law

Louisiana passed an amendment which now requires unanimous jury verdicts for felony convictions that will start next year.

As of now, prosecutors need 10 out of 12 votes to send a defendant to prison, even for life with no possibility of parole.

With the passage of the constitutional amendment no accused will be sent to the Louisiana state prison unless all jurors are free of any reasonable doubt that if they belong there.

This amendment is historic

In the late 19th century, Louisiana was faced with a new constitutional requirement, after the passage of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which forced the state to include black people in juries.

Since Louisiana required juries to reach unanimous decisions, this meant a single black person on the jury would have a lot of power ultimately weaken white Louisianans’ hold over the state, its government, and its laws.

But the state found a stopgag measure.

As part of a constitutional convention in 1898 meant to “perpetuate the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in Louisiana,” it enacted a myriad of Jim Crow mediums. One of them allowed split juries for felony trials, so the few black jurors could be easily overruled by a white majority.

“This was part of the 1898 constitutional convention, which is famous for disenfranchising black voters,” Lawrence Powell, a historian at Tulane University in New Orleans, told Vox.

“It was also around the time of the Plessy [v. Ferguson] case that just got sanction from the US Supreme Court for racial segregation. It’s all part of that mix.

Jim Crow Era law and criminal cases

Louisiana was one of two states that allow split-jury decisions in criminal cases, requiring just 10 of 12 jurors to agree to a verdict in serious felony trials.

Oregon is the only other state that allows split juries, but even it requires unanimous verdicts for murder trials.

Hopefully this amendment will knock down the walls of racial inequality in the criminal justice system.