Power of State Court Judges

Hear Vanderbilt Law School professor Tracey George explain how the power and discretion of state court judges can impact current and future criminal cases. George uses the sexual assault trial of former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner as an example of the impact the Turner decision could have on other sexual assault trials.
State courts handle more than 90 percent of trials and judicial business issues that impact Americans the most-safety, health, finances and family. In the last decade alone roughly a billion cases have gone through the state judicial system.
A first-of-its-kind database of more than 10,000 current state judges shows when it comes to race, gender and ethnicity, these courts are not representative of the people they serve.
The study, “The Gavel Gap: Who Sits in Judgement on State Courts?” was written by George and Albert H. Yoon, professor of law and economics at the University of Toronto with support from the American Constitution Society.
Follow Vanderbilt on Twitter: / vanderbiltu , on Instagram: / vanderbiltu and on Facebook: / vanderbilt .
See all Vanderbilt social media at social.vanderbi....