Overview
Current efforts are
underway throughout the country to identify problems in the American
jury system and to find effective solutions for these problems.
One pervasive problem is how to reach out to all of the
participants in the jury system and educate them about this critical
institution. This
document examines outreach initiatives developed by state and federal
government agencies and national organizations to improve citizen
participation, to increase the efficiency of the jury system, and to
enhance public understanding of the jury system.
These initiatives are aimed at five categories of participants
involved in the jury process, including future jurors, the general
citizenry, court administrators, trial judges, and trial attorneys.
Future
juror refers to the
populace of the United States not yet eligible for jury service due to age or other temporary
limitation.
The
general citizenry is the population currently eligible for jury
service.
Employees
and employers
are those persons in the work force affected by jury service.
Court
administrators consist of state and local officials responsible for
court management.
Trial
judges are those judges who
preside over jury trials.
Trial
attorneys are those lawyers who conduct jury trials.
While not an exhaustive listing, this document seeks to identify models
of successful programs on each level in the hope that these examples can
offer guidance in further improvements.
They are listed in alphabetical order.
National
Programs:
State
Programs:
The
American Bar Association’s Coalition for Justice offers
pamphlets on how to increase the effectiveness of varying parts of the
legal system. “Roadmaps:
The American Jury” offers information on the reforms made
in the jury system, as well as including contact names and information
for successful reform programs so that others may learn from them.
It is available for purchase on their website.
Applicable
to:
o
Court administrators
o
Trial judges
o
Trial attorneys
Top
The
American Bar Association Division for Public Education
maintains numerous outlets online to inform the public about the legal
system. The section on “How
Courts Work” offers basic information the jury system and
its function geared toward high school students, and a similar section, “Trial
by Jury,” is maintained to give information to the general
public. “Students
in Action” outlines ways in which primary and secondary
students can become involved in the legal system, but somewhat
inexplicably lacks a section on jury service.
Applicable
to:
o
Future jurors
o
The general citizenry
Top
The
American Board of Trial Advocates identifies its primary
goal as to “provide education concerning the history and value of the
right to trial by jury.” They
offer publications on the jury system in a variety of fields, with a
magazine on voir
dire, the text of the Seventh
Amendment, a Juror
Bill of Rights, and others.
Their website serves as a great resource for background
information.
Additionally, the
ABOTA has created Justice
By the People. Its
fundamental purpose is to “teach students about one of their most
important rights as citizens: trial by jury.”
The program is a weeklong curriculum for children in grades five
through nine, and includes complete lesson plans, a mock trial on video,
and a CD-ROM trial simulation game.
The program has five
classroom lessons related to the jury system in addition to
the multimedia presentations.
Applicable
to:
o
Future jurors
o
The general citizenry
Top
The
American Judicature Society
offers a free version of its 10-page jury deliberation pamphlet, “Behind
Closed Doors.” In
their store, under the section of Court
Reform, a video is sold titled Cornerstone
of Democracy: The U.S. Jury System, which “blends information about jury
service with the dramatized stories of citizens directly touched by the
constitutional right to trial by jury.”
They recommend this video to jury orientation sessions, public
outreach programs, and classroom settings.
Additionally, Enhancing the
Jury System: A Guidebook for Jury Reform, a guidebook detailing
reform efforts in varying locales and offering suggestions for
improvements, is for sale on the site.
AJS
also has books for sale under the jury
section of the website, including Behind Closed Doors: A Resource Manual to Improve
Jury Deliberations, a 51-page book that gives
background on the creation of their brochure of the same name, and
“provides
information jurors need to improve their satisfaction with and
confidence in their decision-making process.”
Also for sale is Robert G. Boatright’s Improving
Citizen Response to Jury Summonses: A Report with Recommendations,
which “identifies reasons for nonresponse and recommends steps that
courts can take to increase response rates.”
Additionally, AJS offers Through
My Own Eyes: A Personalized Look at the US Justice System,
a video series tailored to explain the legal system to immigrants which
includes information on juries.
Applicable to:
o
Future
jurors
o
The
general citizenry
o
Court
administrators
o
Trial
judges
o
Trial
attorneys
Top
The
Council for Court Excellence offers a curriculum for
students based around the jury system titled Guilty
or Not Guilty? You Decide: A
Participatory Jury Experience for Students.
Designed for grades nine through twelve, its purpose is to
address the “urgent need to inform young people about the importance
of jury service” and to “spread this vital message of civic
responsibility” that “jury duty is one of this country’s ways of
making the justice system work not only for the people, but of and by
the people as well.” The
program contains four sections on juries, including its history, the
trial court process, the role of the jury, and jury experiences.
Each section contains questions to be answered and talking points
about various other resources, such as the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution. The
program is based around the use of a mock trial videotape in which
students sit as members of a jury and make up their own minds about a
case.
Applicable
to:
o
Future jurors
Top
The
Federal Judicial Center offers a program to judges and
court administrators on jury
management. It
also contains an online walk
through informational program on the federal courts in
general geared toward the general public, including information on “who
does what” inside and outside of the courtroom.
This walk through contains a section on juries with a frequently
asked question section, as well as definitions of what a jury is.
Applicable to:
o
Future jurors
o
The general citizenry
o
Trial judges
Top
The
Federal Judiciary offers an educational outreach program
titled “From Courts to Classes,” which is available on their
website. It is “designed
to assist educators in teaching about the federal court system in ways
that are consistent with law-related education practices and relevant
social studies standards.” The
site offers an online textbook, lesson plans, and a frequently asked
question section, all dealing with various aspects of the federal court
system. They offer a lesson
plan on jury service titled The
Function and Qualifications for Jury Service.
Additionally, the federal judiciary was involved with a program
titled “Open
Doors to Federal Courts,” which introduced
high school students to the jury system and the process of
being a juror. This is an annual
program that gets students out to federal courts to learn
about their function.
Applicable
to:
o
Future jurors
Top
Justice
Talking,
a radio program on National Public Radio, “features an hour of
engaging debate on issues of law and justice” each week, hosted by the
New York Bureau chief of NPR Margo Adler.
The show involves varying panelists in the legal world, including
judges, attorneys, professors, and others.
On September 9th of 2002, the radio program’s topic
was “Race,
Justice, and Juries,”
and dealt with jury selection questions.
The website also gives links to varying jury reform efforts, and
basic background on the jury system.
Additionally, Justice
Talking has begun the “Sound of Democracy Initiative,” which
introduces the radio program to public libraries and jury rooms around
the country. The goal is to
utilize “innovative radio programming to educate, entertain, and
inspire citizens about the law, the Constitution and important public
policy debates.” Justice
Talking has collaborated with the American
Judicature Society to create civic education learning centers in
American jury rooms that may include wall murals about the Bill of
Rights, audio listening stations to listen to Justice Talking debates,
and general materials explaining the Constitution.
Such programs are already in existence in parts
of Minnesota, the First
Judicial District Information Center in Philadelphia, parts of Los Angeles
and San Antonio, and others.
Justice
Talking has also teamed with the New
York Times Learning Network
to create Justice
Learning, a website
devoted to “an innovative, issue-based approach for engaging high
school students in informed political discourse.”
The website uses Justice Talking audio coupled with articles from
the New York Times to “teach students about reasoned debate and the
often-conflicting values inherent in our democracy.”
While the program does not currently have juries highlighted as
an issue, the subject matter of the debates may include information
relevant to jury service.
Applicable to:
o
Future
jurors
o
The
general citizenry
o
Court
administrators
o
Trial
judges
o
Trial
attorneys
Top
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC)
maintains a large amount of information on jury systems that is
available to the public on their website.
A specific division, the
Center for Jury Studies, is devoted to jury systems issues.
Their current projects include the National
Program to Increase Citizen Participation in Jury Service through Jury
Innovations, Examining
Voir Dire in California, the 2001
Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, Assessing
Innovations in Jury System Management, and Juror
Comprehension of DNA Evidence. Already
completed projects include “Juror
Discussions in Civil Trials,“ “Juror
Privacy,” and “Are
Hung Juries a Problem?”
The Center for Jury
Studies also offers links to NCSC publications, including ordering
information for Jury
Trial Innovations, The
Promises and Challenges of Jury System Technology, Jury
News, the
Jury Bookshelf, and as
well as other seminal publications on juries..
Subscriptions to “Jur-E
Bulletin,” a free, weekly e-newsletter on “all things
jury” are available on the website, as well as links to the “best
jury websites,” and information about Jury
System Vendors
In addition to the
Center for Jury Studies, NCSC maintains information on issues related to
juries, including resource guides, frequently asked questions,
overviews, and state links to relevant sources.
Categories of information include Jury
Management, Jury
Selection, Jury
Trial Innovations, Jury
Decision Making, Grand
Juries, and Managing
Notorious Trials.
Applicable
to:
o
Future jurors
o
The general citizenry
o
Employers
o
Court administrators
o
Trial judges
o
Trial attorneys
Top
The
National Technical Information Center, a division of the
United States Department of Commerce, offers educational videos and
downloadable information to new judges.
These programs are available for purchase on their website.
The Administration
of the Jury System and Selection of a Jury is aimed at aiding
in the orientation of district judges and includes a discussion of jury
administration from Judge Roger G. Strand of Arizona. Other technical and
statistical studies can also be found on the organization’s website.
A full listing of judicial training videos and programs can be
found in the Law
Enforcement and Judicial Training Catalog.
Applicable to:
o
Trial judges
Top
Many
states compile brochures, programs or websites to inform the general
public on jury procedures, including information ranging from
transportation questions to compensation.
However, certain states provide a great deal more information and
have more comprehensive resources available to the public when
concerning the jury system.
Arizona
The state of Arizona, and specifically, the
Superior Court of Maricopa County, offers a wealth of information on the jury.
They maintain a comprehensive jury
service website with a great deal of valuable resources.
The website
offers links to general
jury information and frequently
asked questions. Topic
areas covered on these sites include court
locations, parking,
juror
hours, lunch
breaks, and many others.
Additionally, they offer an online
option to confirm and reschedule summonses, if the need
arises.
The Superior
Court offers a downloadable
letter to employers as well that jurors can print out as
proof of their service. This
letter gives information on the state requirements on employers
regarding jury service, and serves as a notification that can help
jurors to get days off for their service.
Additionally, the court offers a section of their site that
contains tips
for coping after jury service, which includes recommendations
for how to feel good about the experience as a whole when all is said
and done.
Top
California
provides extensive information
to its citizens, subdividing their website
into numerous sections involving all aspects of jury service.
Web purveyors can access frequently
asked questions, jury
instructions, and more.
Additionally,
there is a section uniquely
for employees and employers.
It includes business
relevant information on one-day or one-trial, information on why
to compensate employees, and frequently
asked questions. Uniquely,
California
also maintains an “Honor
Roll of California Employers,” which publicly documents
those employers that compensate employees for jury service.
California
also has two programs to work
on improving the jury system, including the Blue
Ribbon Commission on Jury System Improvement and the Task
Force on Jury System Improvements.
Both programs aim to improve the administration of the jury
system and to improve both participation in and satisfaction with the
jury system. These websites
provide the public and the legal system with information on these
programs and their findings.
California
also offers printed information
at the court for jurors published by the Judicial Council of California.
This juror orientation program is titled Ideals
Made Real. It has
multiple components, including a printed brochure that answers
frequently asked questions about jury service and a jury orientation
video. The Foundation of the
State Bar of California also puts out a magazine for youth titled When
You Become 18: A Survival Guide for Teenagers, which contains
information on relevant issues to teenagers.
This magazine includes a section on jury duty that contains
frequently asked questions. This
program is a statewide initiative to inform jurors and is standardized.
However, many local courts also offer information tailored to
their courtroom that may not have direct bearing on juries.
For
example, the Riverside County Courthouse has multitudes of published
information for visitors to the court, whether they are jurors,
potential jurors, or simple citizens.
One brochure contains information about the court itself,
including its history, details about the architecture, and information
about the surrounding area. They
also provide a brochure about famous happenings at the court house, such
as Frank Sinatra receiving a marriage license to wed actress Barbara
Marx in 1976. Along
the same line, the court offers a “Downtown Pocket Guide” with
information on shopping, dining, entertainment, parking, and public
services in Riverside.
It also contains a historic walking tour.
There is a juror appreciation flier thanking citizens for their
service. Local businesses
have also taken the hint – a restaurant called Pacific Stiks
advertises directly to the jury box, depicting jurors “held captive”
who should break for lunch at their restaurant.
They even go so far as to include a map pointing out the
restaurant in relationship to the jury box.
All
of this information can help jurors and potential jurors to have a
better overall experience. While
these brochures may not have applicability to the jury system directly,
they give a greater understanding of the court and the surrounding area,
and provide some mitigation of the boredom resulting from the process.
Applicable
to:
o
The general
citizenry
o
Employees and
employers
o
Court
administrators
o
Trial judges
o
Trial attorneys
Top
Though the
state of Florida has limited information on juries available on the state
judiciary webpage. Individual
circuits in Florida, however, offer far more in the form of online information for jurors.
The Ninth
Judicial Circuit Court of Florida is particularly good at providing
information to jurors. It
subdivides its juror information by county and has websites for both Orange
County and Osceola
County.
The Orange County
site offers information on the length of service, instructions on
reporting to the court, and details on parking and compensation.
There is an online
informational brochure about jury service, and the applicable
forms to request an exemption.
Additionally, there is a video
explaining jurors’ free access to public transportation and
a copy of the juror orientation video for online viewing.
The Court also offers free daycare to jurors in their A
Place for Children. Orange
County also offers free amenities to jurors, including a cyber café with
internet access, fax service, storage lockers, telephones, games, and
cable television, among other things.
Finally, the Court has a juror
exit survey available online to be taken after completing
jury service.
The Osceola County
webpage offers much of the same information, but to a slightly lesser
degree. There is still
information on the term of service, instructions on reporting to the
court, and compensation, as well as the juror
instruction video, exit
survey, informational
brochure, request
for excusal, and list of amenities, but there is no video
about public transportation.
The Eighth
Judicial Circuit also offers a jury
webpage, though it is less involved than that of the Ninth.
It contains basic information on cancellation, length of service,
attire, parking, compensation, and excusals.
They also offer an online form to request
an exemption. Polk
County, within the Tenth Circuit, has a similar
site, except it also offers a juror
frequently asked questions section, as does the
Eleventh Circuit.
Applicable
to:
o
The general citizenry
o
Court administrators
o
Trial judges
o
Trial attorneys
Top
The
New York State Unified Court System maintains an extensive
website containing a wealth of information for jurors.
The site contains general
jury information, county
specific information, forms
to volunteer for jury service, and more.
You can view online versions of their juror
orientation videos and submit
a qualification questionnaire online among other things.
New York
also offers an extensive
database of information for employees
and employers. Contained
on this section of the site is a downloadable
version of their “Employer/Employee Handbook,” a step-by-step
guideline to who pays the juror fee, as well as a downloadable
version, and basic
information for employers.
Additionally,
the state has a program to evaluate the jury programs in New York, titled The
Commission on the Jury, which is chaired by Mark C. Zauderer.
Begun in 2003, the Commission was charged with “finding
ways to better utilize the time of citizens who report for jury
service.” Its website
contains information on the group’s actions and meetings, as well as
maintaining a membership list and contacts.
The Commission released its interim
report on June 17, 2004, in which it made recommendations for
reforms in the New York
jury system.
Following its release, Chief Judge Judith Kaye announced that
some of these reforms were to be enacted promptly.
The
state also provides a great deal of published information, including a
seasonal newsletter titled Jury
Pool News, which highlights “the latest court
initiatives and related news,” and is available to jurors in
courtrooms across the state. The
publication features stories about the jury system, outreach programs,
and general information about the courts.
In many cases, stories are framed around celebrity involvement in
the jury system, or with a more popularized spin to appeal to more
readers.
Additionally,
at the suggestion of the New York Jury Project panel of the mid-1990s,
the Fund
for Modern Courts in New York
created the Citizens
Jury Project to improve the jury process “for everyone –
judges, administrators, and most of all, jurors.”
This website offers information
on places to eat near different court houses, a juror
helpline to address common issues, and reports
and articles on the courts and jury system. The
Project also helps in putting on the Youth
Mock Trial program, which has the “goal of promoting
youth’s understanding of and interest in the legal system.”
The Citizens Jury Project also publishes a flier that is
distributed at court houses in New York
that has a list of places to
eat in the area.
·
Applicable
to:
o
Future
jurors
o
The
general citizenry
o
Employers
o
Court
administrators
o
Trial
judges
o
Trial
attorneys
Top |
