In North Carolina, the Racial Justice Act addresses the blatant racial discrepancies in state judicial sentencing.  The act allows death row inmates and defendants facing the death penalty to use statistics and other evidence to argue that racial bias played a role in their sentencing.

Yesterday, a judge in North Carolina began hearing arguments in the first case to use the act.  KBOO's Crystal Leighty spoke with Michael Hewlett, a journalist following the case.