
New York state senator Brian Benjamin recently introduced legislation to lift the state's ban on ex-felons serving as jurors. According to Benjamin, “[i]f a person has completed the sentence for a felony, that person should be considered rehabilitated and given the opportunity to the full rights of citizenship, including the right to serve on a jury.” It appears that this legislation, S00221, may have a decent chance of being enacted. There is a companion bill in the state Assembly and the senate version was recently passed out of committee despite concerns by both the ABA and the state's Republican minority party. If S00221 becomes law, NY will become one of the few states that allow felons to serve on juries. While there has been a big push to restore voting rights to felons, the same cannot be said for sitting on a jury.