at's one less nigger" (Friedman 374-375). Apologist for the South insist that the courts were fair and honest. After that change came slowly. A few landmark cases occurred in a period of time, but
             none of them solved the problem of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
             The Voting Rights Act of 1965 did make a difference. In the South particularly, blacks began to vote in sufficient numbers to put some black officials in office and a few on the bench.
             The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that a death sentence could not be overturned solely on the basis of statistics that show general racial disparities in sentencing. To overturn a death sentence, defendants must show evidence of discrimination in their particular cases. The Racial Justice Act was intended to nullify the Supreme Court's ruling by allowing statistics to be the basis of death penalty appeals. The act was passed by the House, but omitted in the final crime bill being considered by Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus promised to use executive orders to achieve the same result on the federal level, but their effort failed. Under the Racial Justice Act, the burden of proof would shift from state to federal authorities. They would have to show any racial disparities in sentencing.
             Do we really have a problem in our criminal justice system? Lois G. Forer, author of A Rage to Punish ,says, "It is a deplorable but indisputable fact that blacks are sentenced to death disproportionately, especially for interracial killings" (107-108). The problem does begin with the courts itself it all starts with the people. If this problem is true don't you think we would have corrected by now. If it was that obvious the problem would have been solved.
             Many people and groups think the death penalty is biased and
             prejudiced toward the blacks. Anthony G. Amsterdam of The Standford Magazine says, " capital punishment ...