ABSTRACT
As a landmark in the history of law enforcement and jury trials, the Rodney King beating trials are historically comparable to the 1931 Scottsboro case or the 1968 Huey Newton case. This chapter examines the substantive issues: underlying factors that led to the beating incident and racism within the police department and the criminal justice system; biases in jury selection procedures at the California state court. It also includes selection biases at the second federal jury trial and further evidence of greater discriminatory mechanisms in the selection of federal juries; questions on the legitimacy of the jury verdict; and the aftermath following the verdict of the accused police officers and eroding public confidence concerning jury trials and jury verdicts. Both accused and victims of crime sometimes doubt the fairness of verdicts, arguing that jurors acted out of emotion rather than reason, or that jurors are prejudiced to racially motivated cases.
