Stand Your Ground laws were under the federal government’s microscope in Orlando Friday.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights convened a national panel at the Rosen Plaza Hotel to hear testimony from experts about the role race plays when it comes to the application and enforcement of Stand Your Ground Laws. 

“When there is a white shooter and a black victim, that homicide is ten times more likely to be ruled justified by the prosecutors,” began John Roman, a senior fellow with The Urban Institute, which is based in Washington D.C. 

“So the rate at which black-on-black homicides are ruled to be justified, white-on-white are all the same. It’s only when there’s a white shooter and a black victim that it’s much more likely to be justified,” Roman explained.

“When you look at the fact that whites are much more likely to receive the benefit of a justified homicide ruling, when they kill someone who is African-American. I think that’s something that you can’t ignore,” added U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Michael Yaki from San Francisco, who asked the federal government to begin the current probe in 2013.

Dozens of experts testified before the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights Friday, most of them saying yes, it does matter what race you are when it comes to the application and enforcement of Stand Your Ground laws in the U.S.

Panelists said if the law is not going to be repealed, the law should at the very least be amended.

“If we’re going to keep the Stand Your Ground Law that it is amended so it could be applied in a uniform manner and not all these arbitrary, contradictory applications of the law number one,” shared Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump. “Number two, Stand Your Ground should be defined as a pretrial motion.”

Meanwhile, State Senator Geraldine Thompson, believes the law should be repealed but she admits an amendment would be more amenable to her fellow representatives in Tallahassee.  

“There would be a greater receptivity among my colleagues to amending the law, tightening up some of the provisions, rather than repealing it,” explained the Democratic State Senator, who represents parts of Orlando in Parramore, as well as neighborhoods in Western Orange County like Ocoee.

The eight-person Commission on Civil Rights will issue a final report to President Barack Obama and Congress concerning their findings on racial disparities related to Stand Your Ground laws.

No exact date has been set for when that “enforcement report” will be released.