Republican attorney general candidate Sam Jones thinks he can make Missouri’s system of capital punishment safer. He calls his proposal the Missouri Racial Justice Act. Jones would allow a defendant to try and prove during pre-trial motions that he faces the death penalty because of his race or because of the race of his victim. The judge would either agree and make it a life-in-prison case, or allow it to continue as a death case. Jones says it would create a record at the time of the trial of any charges of racial bias, making later appeals more reliable. Jones adds he thinks the death penalty is already well-administered in the state.
