Racial Justice Act Moves Closer to Passage in North Carolina. The North Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to prevent racial bias in the administration of the death penalty. The senate's action came just hours after a House panel passed a nearly identical bill, known as the Racial Justice Act. The bill allows those convicted or accused of capital murder to argue through the use of statistical studies that race played a role in their death sentence or a prosecutor’s decision to seek the death penalty. If that bias is proven, a judge could vacate the death sentence or order that capital punishment not be sought. The next step for either version of the Racial Justice Act is a vote on the House or Senate floor. Two years ago, the House approved a similar bill.