Blacks and the jury system / moderated by Elsa Knight Thompson

A panel discussion on the problems of being Black or Mexican-American under current jury procedures, with Fay Stender, Berkeley attorney, Carl Metoyer, president of the Alameda County Bar Association, Robert Boags, president of the Charles Houston Law Club, and Dr. Philip Good, a statistical consultant who has done research on Black registration. Topics discussed include whether voter registration affects jury demographics; the different methods of jury selection in different counties, from random to biased testing; whether discrimination is based on race and/or class; grand jury selections; the lack of the legal system to respond to the needs of the people being brought into it, vis-a-vis the consequences of a system wherein the police officers, judges, juries, and parole officers are all White when the defendant is Black. Elsa Knight Thompson moderates. Originally broadcast during KPFA’s open hour, February 11, 1970.