Kentucky Racial Justice Act of 1998

Kentucky was the first state to pass a Racial Justice Act, March 1998. In capital cases, statistical evidence is allowed to show that race influenced the decision to seek the death penalty. If the judge determines that race was a factor, then the death penalty will be barred. The act is not retroactive. The bill came about after it was found that all of the African Americans on death roll were there for killing whites, but there were no whites on death row for killing African Americans. For more see The Advocate, vol. 20, no. 4 (July 1998) and SB 171.