Across the country, voters of all backgrounds are taking to the polls to have their voices heard on election day. In most states, the focus is on congressional and gubernatorial elections. However, more is at stake this election day. In state’s across the country, voters will be deciding school board, mayoral and other local races. In addition, voters will have the opportunity to remove or approve local legislation. Nowhere is this more true in the state of Louisiana. Throughout the state, voters will have the opportunity to remove the Jim Crow era “10-2” law.
In the majority of U.S. courts, major crimes such as murder must be determined by a unanimous verdict. However, this is not true in the state of Louisiana. In the state of Louisiana, major trials can be determined by the “10-2” law. This controversial law allows major trials to be determined by a jury as long as ten of the jurors agree on a verdict. In other words, non-death penalty cases can be determined even if the jury is split on a verdict.
The law was first implemented over a century ago when the 14th amendment first allowed black men to serve on a jury. Being that black people only made up 14% of the state at the time, the law effectively allowed white jurors to outvote their black counterparts. According to the Official Journal of Proceedings for the 1898 Constitutional Convention of the State of Louisiana, the “10-2” law was designed to “perpetuate the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in Louisiana.”
Today, voters will have the opportunity to vote in support against “Amendment 2” that proposes the “10-2” law be terminated.
