Student id: 70633836
Title: Multicultural Law Enforcement, CJS235
Reach Project number: 40628200
Introduction:
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Sixth Circuit opinion continuing a decision of the federal court to grant John Bass's discovery motion in reference to the selective prosecution. Bass the defendant suspected that the government wanted a death penalty against him based on race thus a motion granted on the discovery concerning the capital charging practices of the government. The District Court settled the discovery motion and then dismissed the notice after the government stated that it would not comply with the discovery order.
Supreme Court ruled incorrectly in the United States v. Bass:
The rulings of the Supreme Court against the case of United States v. Bass were incorrect because of various reasons; the courts in the United States had charged many blacks with offenses which were death-eligible, which blacks were twice more than the whites. It is more often engaged in a plea bargains with the whites than the blacks. This is a clear indication of the discrimination against black people, thus the rulings of the case of John Bass were influenced by the fact that he belonged to the less fortunate black race.
Name: Debbie Reynolds
Student id: 70633836
Title: Multicultural Law Enforcement, CJS235
Reach Project number: 40628200
The decision of the Sixth Circuit was contrary United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 465, 116 S.Ct. 1480, 134 L.Ed.2d 687 (1996),whereby the court stated that “any defendant seeking discovery on any selective prosecution claim should provide some evidence of the discriminatory intent and discriminatory effect”. United States v. Jones, 159 F.3d 969, 978 (6th Cir.1998). To establish discriminatory effect, a defendant “must show that similarly situated individuals of a different race were not prosecuted.” For the evidence of the discriminatory effect, the defendant must be specific on similarly situated