Topic summary
All-white jury
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Racial discrimination in jury selection.
Australia
- In 1983, 16-year-old Aboriginal boy John Pat was attacked by five police officers and beaten to death in Roeburne, Western Australia. The officers were tried for manslaughter, but acquitted by an all-white jury after pleading self-defence.
- In 2004, Aboriginal man Cameron Doomadgee was arrested and died in a police cell on Palm Island, Queensland from injuries. In 2007, the arresting police officer Chris Hurley was charged with assault and manslaughter, but was later acquitted by an all-white jury.
- In 2019 in Yuendumu, Northern Territory, police officer Zachary Rolfe shot Walpiri man Kumanjayi Walker 3 times, killing him. This occurred shortly after Walker stabbed Rolfe with scissors. 3 days later, Rolfe was charged with murder. In 2022, Rolfe was acquitted unanimously. Juror candidates were drawn randomly. Rolfe's defence team used the majority of their 12 challenges to remove people of colour and those of Asian descent. In the end, the jury selected were all white with the exception of one young Asian woman, even though Indigenous people account for 30% of the Northern Territory population.