The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that judges must broaden their analysis when determining whether jury pools have sufficient racial diversity to guarantee a fair trial, reports the Associated Press. The ruling came in an appeal by Kelvin Plain Sr., a black man convicted by an all-white jury of harassing a neighbor in 2015. The court rejected the method previously used to gauge the racial composition of a jury—reversing its own ruling from a case 25 years ago—and declared that judges must use multiple tests to evaluate the composition of a jury pool. 

Iowa judges previously used an absolute disparity test to compare the percentage of blacks in the county population with that of the jury pool. “Justices acknowledged that since their 1992 case, the U.S. Supreme Court and others have concluded that method is not an accurate indication of minority balance in locations where minorities represent less than 10% of the overall population”—which applies to all Iowa counties—writes reporter David Pitt. The justices also strongly urged judges to use instructions seeking to heighten jurors’ awareness of unconscious racial bias.