Judges, DAs Question California Proposal on Bias and Juries

Prosecutors and judges are resisting a proposal working its way through the California Legislature to require transparency around juror strikes in the nation’s largest state justice system, favoring a court-driven approach to address concerns of racial, gender, and other bias.

“Almost without exception, trial judges have problems with that bill,” Judge Steve White, president of the Alliance of California Judges, said in an interview. “The concern is not its objective, which we share. It’s the mechanism by which they seek to achieve that objective.”

Opponents call premature the measure that has cleared the Assembly and is set for consideration in ...