Racially representative juries: Empowering people of colour and local communities

Current jury selection procedures result in the under-representation of people of colour on criminal juries. As a result, jury verdicts do not accurately reflect the racial diversity and differing viewpoints of the entire population. This calls into question the legitimacy of the justice system and may result in denying defendants the right to a fair and impartial trial. This thesis argues that reform efforts should be concentrated on ensuring that people of colour are given every possible opportunity to participate on juries and that all barriers that directly or indirectly result in their exclusion be eliminated.