R.D.

BACKGROUND

The Racial Justice Act The RJA provides that “[t]he state shall not seek or obtain a criminal conviction or seek, obtain, or impose a sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.” (§ 745, subd. (a).) The RJA expressly applies to “adjudications and dispositions in the juvenile delinquency system.” (Id., subd. (f).)

3 In passing the RJA, the Legislature expressed its intent “to eliminate racial bias from California’s criminal justice system,” noting that “racism in any form or amount, at any stage of a criminal trial, is intolerable, inimical to a fair criminal justice system, is a miscarriage of justice under Article VI of the California Constitution, and violates the laws and Constitution of the State of California.” (Assem. Bill No. 2542, § 2, subd. (i).) The Legislature further expressed that “[i]t is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that race plays no role at all in seeking or obtaining convictions or in sentencing.” (Assem. Bill No. 2542, § 2, subd. (i).) It recognized that “[i]mplicit bias, although often unintentional and unconscious, may inject racism and unfairness into proceedings similar to intentional bias,” and specified that its…