Essay: BREACHING THE WHITE WALL OF SOUTHERN JUSTICE

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Segregated justice begins with white police and prosecutors, all of them beholden to the white world that appoints or elects them. The elected Southern sheriff is no professional policeman; he is a powerful politician and quite likely the most important man in his county. In Mississippi, for example, he is not only the top law-enforcement officer but also the official tax collector, a job that gives him a fee-income that sometimes raises his annual take to more than $30,000. Since the sheriff is personally responsible for crime-fighting expenses, he hires as few deputies as possible and commonly ignores the crimes his constituents commit in adjoining counties. Thus, white nightriders who terrorize Negroes in the next county sneak home to peace and quiet.

When it comes to Negroes, almost all Deep South states have on their books a catchall statute against disturbing the peace; Louisiana not only lists a number of acts that might "foreseeably" disturb the white public but also makes a crime out of the "commission of any other act" that might "unreasonably" alarm that public. Southern legislatures specialize in frankly discriminatory laws that may survive for months or years before federal courts strike them down. In 1964 the Mississippi legislature prescribed up to three months in prison and a $250 fine for anyone giving birth to a second illegitimate child (considerately, the lawmakers stipulated that twins count only as one). More than 93% of the state's illegitimate births are to Negroes, and a state representative candidly described the measure's purpose: "This is the only way to stop the black tide which threatens to engulf us."

J.P.s & Lawyers

The Negro accused even of a misdemeanor usually goes before a justice of the peace who not only may be unsympathetic but who has every incentive for throwing the book at him—the j.p. is paid per conviction. Virtually no Southern j.p. is a lawyer; one study of 90 North Carolina j.p.s showed that only six had gone to college. They hold court, as the study group discovered, in "country stores, private homes, motel offices, upstairs over the fire stations, and in one case, on the screened-in porch of an ice house." Not only does the justice of the peace have the final decision on fine or jail sentence in nearly all the cases he decides, but he gets to set bond if the case is scheduled for a higher court. The whole bail system, in fact, is used as a handy club against Negroes. While many white-owned bonding companies mulct Negro defendants in ordinary criminal cases, few touch the Negro involved in a civil rights matter. Unless he can put up unmortgaged property or raise cash from hard-pressed civil rights groups, he stays in jail.

Though the Supreme Court's Gideon ruling and recent elaborations by lower federal courts grant any indigent defendant the right to counsel paid for by the state, this means little in cases where Negroes are accused of crimes against whites, to say nothing of civil rights workers. The court-appointed white lawyer takes such cases with reluctance, generally urges the defendant to plead guilty and, if forced to a trial, rarely gives it adequate time or effort. Even if such defendants have money, few white lawyers would offer their services for fear of losing their regular clients.