Equal Justice Initiative

Analysis of votes cast for president on November 4, 2008, shows that the percentage of white Alabama voters who supported President-Elect Barack Obama was the lowest in the country, at only 10%.

J.L. Chestnut Jr., Selma's first black lawyer and lifelong advocate for equality and racial justice, died September 30, 2008, in Birmingham, Alabama, at age 77.

After Alberta Turner's home in White Hall, Alabama, was severely damaged by storms (click here for photos of the damaged home), EJI Rural Development Manager Catherine Flowers assisted the Turner family to obtain a new home (click here for photos of the new home).

On March 17, 2008, EJI asked the United States Supreme Court to review the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals' decision denying relief to Eli Crawford, an Alabama inmate serving a life sentence for attempted murder. At his Birmingham trial, Mr. Crawford's court-appointed trial lawyer did not object when the judge forced Mr. Crawford to wear jail-issued clothing instead of the clothes his family brought for him, even though the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that a defendant's right to be presumed innocent is violated when he is forced to attend trial in a jail uniform.

EJI is appealing the conviction of Marsha Colby, a Baldwin County woman convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for the death of her newborn son, despite strong evidence that the baby was stillborn.

A new film by Irish filmmakers on race and the death penalty is now available from EJI. "Death in Dixie," featuring former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and EJI clients and staff, explores race and the criminal justice system and profiles three Alabama death penalty cases involving wrongful convictions. Click here to watch the preview. Copies of the 28-minute film are available for purchase from EJI.

The Equal Justice Initiative has recently undertaken a major effort to challenge racial bias in jury selection throughout the United States. In communities across America, racial minorities are significantly underrepresented on criminal trial juries as a result of jury selection procedures that are racially biased and discriminatory. Although federal law in this area is well-established, because of the inherently difficult task of proving exclusion of racial minorities from jury service, there is still much progress to be made in this area.