« Courts - SCOTUS Is Now Guiding Fewer Nations | Main | Ind. Courts - "Helping voters judge the judges" »

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Courts - WSJ column surveys jury duty

Some quotes from the lengthy article today by Nathan Koppel:

Jury duty is like the speed limit: We know we're supposed to honor it, but we try to skirt it anyway. Businesspeople and professionals are some of the worst offenders, believing they are too busy to serve, especially on long trials. For a system that shapes defendants' fortunes and lives, and depends on fairness and balance, there's a whole lot of gaming going on.

The gamesmanship extends to lawyers, who winnow out prospective jurors they think will decide against them, and lobbyists, who try to shape the jury pool by influencing states' selection methods. And it is all based on assumptions that look shrewd and often turn out to be wrong.

To make the process more just and representative, many states have passed laws increasing juror pay, shortening the waiting period to be picked for juries and casting a wider net for prospective jurors. New York, one of the first states to introduce reforms, eradicated a seemingly random list of exempt occupations, including clergy, foot doctors and embalmers.

Over the past five years, other states have followed suit. In Indiana, following 2006 legislation, ferry-boat captains no longer get a pass. Starting next year in Tennessee, "habitual drunkards" will have to line up, as best they can, to perform their civic duty, as will certified public accountants.

Trial judges have joined the fray, issuing arrest warrants for no-show jurors and holding "juror scofflaw" court to punish truants. (Not all judges are so hard-nosed; in the recent Manhattan case, many people were excused, including the vacationing woman and the unemployed job seeker.)

The WSJ Law Blog follows up with an entry headed "The American Jury System: A Whole Lot Of Gaming Going On."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 18, 2008 11:02 AM
Posted to Courts in general