Mulitcultural Law enforcement - Essay Example

On December 8, 1998, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging the defendant, John Bass, with intentional firearm killing of two individuals. Shortly thereafter, the United States filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. Bass, who is black, filed a motion to dismiss the death penalty notice and filed for discovery on a claim of discriminatory effect, The statistics requested included detailed information regarding the government’s capital punishment practices, alleging that the government was seeking the death penalty based on his race.

The district court granted Bass’s motion and ordered the government to produce the documents. Upon the government’s refusal to comply, the District Court dismissed the death penalty notice. The United States then appealed its case to the United States Court of Appeals who affirmed the district court’s decision and remanded the United States to submit the requested materials for review. Subsequently the government appealed the matter to the United States Supreme Court who ruled in favor of the United States and reversed the Court of Appeal’s decision.

The evidence submitted by the defendant John Bass, through the Department of Justice’s statistical data, was more than sufficient to support his claim of selective prosecution. The statistics provided by Bass showed that although whites make up the majority of federal prisoner’s, they account for only one-fifth of those charged with death-eligible offenses. Bass also introduced statistics that indicated blacks are no more likely to commit violent offenses than whites. The United States argued that although the evidence does show a racial disparity, the “similarly situated” and discriminatory intent requirements were not met.

The Court of Appeals pointed out that Bass had identified a pool of similarly situated defendants, and this evidence clearly showed that the government entered plea bargains with one in two whites while it entered plea bargains with only one in four blacks. Despite the evidence of a discriminatory effect, the court ruled that Bass failed to show proof of any discriminatory effect and that the overall statistics had no bearing on charges brought against a "similarly situated" defendant. Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruled the plea bargaining statistics were even more irrelevant.

The United States Supreme Court erred on this ruling. Clearly, the evidence introduced by Bass, indicate an obvious element of discriminatory effect, the raw statistics say everything about charges brought against “similarly situated” defendants. There is clearly a correlation between race and the United States capital punishment practices. The government’s refusal to comply with the District Court’s order of discovery and order to turn over material requested was sufficient reason to dismiss the notice of intent to seek the death penalty.

The United States Court of Appeals was correct in their ruling, as was the district court; unfortunately, the United States Supreme Court was not. Works Cited United States v. John Bass. No. 01-1471. Supreme Court of the US. 28 June 2002. Web. 6 June 2011. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=01-1471. United States v. John Bass. No. 01-1213.US Court of Appeals, (6th Circuit). 25 September 2001.Web. 6 June 2011. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1480402.html.