Juries

California Expanding Jury Rolls

In an effort to empanel more diverse juries, California will now pull names from tax rolls.  The court currently relies on drivers licenses and voter registration to call people for jury duty.

krcrtv.com: CA courts will use state income tax records for jury duty starting Jan. 2022

Benevolent Exclusion

Anna Offit

Abstract

The American jury system holds the promise of bringing commonsense ideas about justice to the enforcement of the law. But its democratizing effect cannot be realized if a segment of the population faces systematic exclusion based on income or wealth. The problem of unequal access to jury service based on socio-economic disparities is a longstanding yet understudied problem, and it will only be exacerbated by the unevenly distributed economic fallout of the COVID pandemic. Like race and sex-based jury discrimination during the peremptory challenge phase of jury selection, the routine dismissal of citizens who face economic hardship excludes not only people but the diversity of ideas, experiences, and frames of interpretation that characterize the American population. By failing to make sure that the poor can serve, we impoverish our shared understanding of doing justice.

This Article offers a historical and empirical account of how socio-economic exclusion cuts prospective jurors from juries. It argues that the dominant rationale for such exclusion is a perception that poor and otherwise burdened prospective jurors should be excused from jury service for their own benefit. The effect of this superficially benevolent rationale, I argue, has been the concealment and reinforcement of class-based jury discrimination. The Article concludes that addressing this seemingly benign but exclusionary practice is an essential task for legal reformers. Further, it recommends instituting structural changes that would make it possible for any eligible person to serve, regardless of income or wealth.

Keywords: discrimination, poverty, juries, litigation, democracy, criminal procedure, race discrimination, poverty law, prosecution, judicial discretion, defense attorneys

Diversifying the Jury Pool

The article below talks about efforts to diversify the jury pool in Hamilton County, Ohio which picks its jurors from voter lists.  Most jurisdictions rely on multiple lists to select jurors e.g., driver licenses, state i.d. cards or utility bills.  It will be interesting to see if this effort has any legs.  As the article mentions, this is not the first time that someone has suggested reforming the outmoded methods of calling people to serve on juries in Hamilton County.

Enquirer.com: Judge, civil rights groups want Hamilton County to expand jury pool

 

 

Argument for Non-Citizen Jurors

The article below and the study it cites makes a strong argument for allowing non-citizen jurors. According to the article, in criminal proceedings, non-citizens face higher sentences than those who are citizens. The article goes on to say that undocumented non-citizens fared even worse. This article and the study give support to the bill that Governor Brown vetoed last year which would have allowed non-citizens, who were lawfully in the United States, to serve as jurors.  

I would also note that allowing non-citizens to serve is not a new concept. For example, England, for close to 500 years, (the practice was eventually abolished by the Naturalization Act of 1870) permitted the jury de medietate linguae, or “jury of the half tongue.” In a jury de medietate linguae a non-citizen defendant was allowed the right to request that half of the jury consist of non-citizens. The practice which has been used in the United States, although not for quite some time, helps non-citizens receive fair treatment under the law.  

New Republic: Juries Dole Out Harsher Sentences to Non-Citizens

State v. Samora: Non-English Speaking Jurors

The New Mexico Supreme Court in a recent ruling (State v. Samora) reaffirmed the fact that non-English speaking jurors have a right to serve on state juries.  New Mexico is one of the few states that allows non-English speaking individuals to sit as jurors.  In making its ruling, the New Mexico Supreme Court cited Article VII, Section 3 of the New Mexico Constitution which states that

“[t]he right of any citizen of the state to . . . sit upon juries, shall never be restricted, abridged or impaired on account of . . . [the] inability to speak, read or write the English or Spanish languages except as may be otherwise provided in this constitution."

Britain Considering Lifting Age Restrictions for Jurors

As the articles below indicate, the Ministry of Justice in Great Britain is considering lifting its age restrictions on who can serve as a juror.  Currently, those older than 69 may not serve on a jury in England and Wales.  While removing the ban would make juries in Great Britain more reflective of the community, there is the risk that older jurors might not be able to perform as well as younger ones. 

The Independent: Ruling on making juries more 'grey' considered

BBC News: Jury service plan to end age limit and include over-70s

Daily Mail: Rise of grey power as ministers call for 90-year-olds ...

One More Thing to Check (Juror Citizenship)

Sometimes with all the talk about checking a juror's Facebook page or searching her digital trail, little things like whether the juror is eligible to serve are forgotten.  Here is one defense attorney who remembered the little things. Upon discovering that a juror who convicted his client was a Canadian citizen, this defense attorney immediately moved to overturn his client's conviction.  This issue has also arisen at the state level with residents of different states see e.g.,Chavers v. State, No. CR-06-0755 (Ala. Crim. App. 4/4/2008).

Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Attorney: Fayette drug conviction invalid because of foreign…

A defense attorney wants his client's drug conviction dismissed because one of the jurors was not a U.S. citizen, which is required