OnlineAthens recently ran a story entitled Will Deeper Jury Pool Improve Verdicts.
According to the article:
The Jury Reform Act of 2011 allows court officials to compile a statewide database from a variety of sources - not just from voter registration rolls - to ensure defendants are more likely to be judged by their peers...by culling names from the state Department of Driver Services, local vital statistics offices and other public sources into a statewide database.
While I applaud Georgia's efforts to improve its jury selection process, I did find a quote within the article quite interesting. According to one Georgia district attorney:
"There's a possibility (the new law) could open up jury service to every Tom, Dick and Harry, and that could diminish the validity of the jury system," [Harry] Gordon said. "If it liberalizes people that get on juries, it's possible you could find more undesirable jurors, but it's going to have to be tried because it's the law, and we'll just have to wait and see if it works more efficiently or not."
What is a desirable jury? One that is prosecutor-friendly.
To read the entire article go here.
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