A report from Citizen Action of New York suggests that Manhattan juries have "strong racial and ethnic disparities in the people who show up to serve." While whites are just more than half of Manhattan's population, about three-quarters of juries are made up of whites. The group had some suggestions on how to change that:
The report recommends that these steps be taken by court officials on the state and local levels Manhattan County Clerk administers court selection in the borough):
- broadening the state juror source list -- the list from which county court officials draw
summoned for jury service -- to reflect the real racial and ethnic population of Manhattan,
such means as adding names from city directories, and community organizations;
- sending a higher proportion of qualifications questionnaires and summonses to communities
a higher proportion of people of color and Hispanics, to compensate for their lower response
rates;
- updating juror source list addresses more frequently, from annually to semi-annually,
compensate for the higher mobility of people of color and Hispanics; and
- increasing state regulation of county use of juror source lists to ensure that the pool of
prospective jurors available for a particular trial is racially and ethically balanced.
The NY Times spoke to the County Clerk, Norman Goodman, who said "personal injury lawyers had complained to him about the high proportion of white professionals serving on juries" because working-class juries tend "to be more generous in granting financial damages to plaintiffs." Goodman also said sending more notices to certain neighborhoods might be unconstitutional.
Have you noticed if juries you've served on are particularly white? Gothamist had jury duty last year, and the waiting room seemed very diverse, as did the pool that was called in.
