Jury Management:Promising InnovationsNational Association for Court ManagementJuly 13, 2006

National Center for State Courts

We Are:Paula Hannaford-AgorDirector, Center for Jury StudiesNational Center for State CourtsTom Munstermandirector, Center for Jury Studies Yes I am retiring I just dont know when

National Center for State Courts

When Last We MetIn Dallas in 2004(Exactly two years ago)A big jury year and it isn't over Technological applications aboundAn Interesting Email ApproachTravis County, TexasNew ABA Efforts in JuriesThe Jury Patriotism ActAs enacted in 8 statesNational Program to Increase Citizen Participation in Jury Service

National Center for State Courts

When Last We MetIn San Francisco in 2005A Panel to Discuss a National Association of Jury ManagersOur and your thoughtsOther communications meansNCSC JuryManagersList List-Serv

National Center for State Courts

ABA Principles For Juries and Jury TrialsAugust 2005Principle 2: Citizens have the right to participate in jury service and their service should be facilitatedPrinciple 3: Juries should have 12 membersPrinciple 4: Jury decisions should be unanimous

National Center for State Courts

More PrinciplesPrinciple 5B: Courts should collect and analyze informationPrinciple 7: Courts should protect juror privacyContinued distinction between qualification, jury administration, and voir dire informationMethods of voir dire individual or written voir dire on sensitive mattersRetention policiesNo surveillance of prospective jurors

National Center for State Courts

Principle 10 Courts should use open, fair and flexible procedures to select a representative pool of prospective jurors10 B: Courts should use random selection procedures throughout the juror selection process10 B 1: Any selection procedure may be used--that provides each eligible and available person with an equal probability of selection, except when a court orders an adjustment for underrepresented populations.

National Center for State Courts

TechnologyStratified Selection based onCensusResponseYieldFTAUndeliverableWhen applied?Technology AboundsWeb used for all jury mattersOther things: blogs, instant access, ebay

National Center for State Courts

Arizonas Lengthy Trial Fund Jury Patriotism ActReimburses jurors serving on lengthy trials for lost income up to $100 per day (days 4-10 of trial) and up to $300 per day (days 11+)Unemployed up to $40 a dayFunded by $15 civil filing fee beginning January 1, 2004Compensation became available to jurors on July 1, 2004

See Munsterman & Silverman, Arizona Jury Reform Vol. 45, No. 1 Judges Journal. 18 (Winter 2006)

National Center for State Courts

The experience after 1 year$613,571 collected in 2004$130,000 disbursed from July 2004 to June 2005172 jurors serving on 40 lengthy trials (2% of trials)58% expenditures for criminal trialsAverage reimbursement $750Courts recovered $3,126 in administrative costs (not enough)

1 out of 3 jurors serving on lengthy trials requested compensation

Forms available on Arizona Judiciary website

Possible legislative revisions:Reduce amount of civil filing feeReduce number of days of service for eligibilityRemove $100 cap on fee for days 4 through 10

National Center for State Courts

State-of-the-StatesLocal Court Survey1,186 jurisdictions have respondedThank you, thanks you, thank youSome have not-You know who you are!Representing 1,288 individual counties and over 2/3rds of the U.S. populationFocus on local jury operations and jury improvement efforts

Two other Components:Statewide survey documents legal infrastructure in which local courts operate Practitioner survey focuses on individual trials

National Center for State Courts

Whats happening in jury improvement efforts?Over half of all jurisdictions report some type of jury improvement effort in the past 5 years

Focus of improvement effortsUpgrade technology (41%)Decrease non-response rates (39%)Improve jury yield, improve facilities (30%)Improve utilization rates (27%)Improve representation, improve public outreach (22%)Improve jury instructions (20%)Improve juror comprehension (15%)

National Center for State Courts

Recent changes to state jury fees inTexasCaliforniaMichigan

National Center for State Courts

Sheet1

Jury Fees in State and Federal Courts

$50.00COCTMANDSD

$45.00UT

$41.20NM

$40.00MINVNJNYTXWVFed

$35.00ARNE

$30.00DCFLHINCVA

$25.00AKLAMSMTOKORPA

$20.00DEMNNH

$16.00WI

$15.00CAINMDRIVT

$12.50KY

$12.00AZ

$10.00ALIDIAKSMEOHSCTNWAWY

$6.00MO

$5.00GA

$4.00IL

Graduated Rate: Reduced or no fee paid for first day or reporting only

Minimum State Rate: Counties supplement additional fees

Sheet2

Sheet3

Term of ServiceOur best estimate:23% of state courts operate under one day/one trial term of serviceencompasses 56% of U.S. population2/3rds of state courts have terms of service of one month or less

50% of courts with terms of service longer than one day have 12 or fewer jury trials annuallyEffectively one day/one trial systems (or could be with little or no effort)

National Center for State Courts

Non-Response Rates* *one-step courts onlyn=442n=346n=181n=65

National Center for State Courts

Chart2

0.072

0.086

0.11

0.144

Population Size

Mean Non-Response Rate

Sheet1

Arkansas (n=30)Other State Courts (n=1,025)

Automation40%36%

Non-Response Rate17%34%

Juror Yield10%25%

Facilities10%25%

Representation17%22%

Jury Instructions0%21%

Utilization7%20%

Public Outreach10%17%

Juror Comprehension0%14%

Other Efforts7%7%

Sheet1

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

Other State Courts (n=1,025)

Arkansas (n=30)

Juror Fees

$50.00COCTMANDSD

$45.00UT

$41.00NM

$40.00MINVNJNYTXWVFed

$35.00ARNE

$30.00DCFLHINCVA

$25.00AKLAMSMTOKORPA

$20.00DEMNNH

$16.00WI

$15.00CAINMDRIVT

$12.50KY

$12.00AZ

$10.00ALIDIAKSMEOHSCTNWAWY

$6.00MO

$5.00GA

$4.00IL

Graduated Rate: Reduced or no fee paid for first day or reporting only

Minimum State Rate: Counties supplement additional fees

Non Response Rate

Population Size

Less than 25,0007.2%

25,000 to 100,0008.6%

100,000 to 500,00011.0%

More than 500,00014.4%

Non Response Rate

0

0

0

0

Population Size

Mean Non-Response Rate

Effect of Follow-Up79% of state courts reported follow-up effortsStrong correlation between extent of follow-up and non-response ratesSingle follow-up letter or second summons appears to be most effective (50% of courts)Documented success in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Eau Claire, Wisc.

National Center for State Courts

A Better Measure of Juror UseAvailable at http://www.courtools.org

National Center for State Courts

A Better Measure of Juror Use(From CourTools)What percent of the citizens reporting become a juror each day?100 report to the pool26 are sworn Thats 26%Should be done over many days and weeksCombines effects of:Call-in efficiencyCalendaring, pleas, settlementsPanel size

National Center for State Courts

New Directions from the BenchUS v. Darryl Green, 389 F. Supp. 29 (D. Mass. 2005)Fair cross section challenge based on effects of non-response and undeliverable ratesSignificant expansion of systematic exclusion definitionOverturned by 1st Circuit Court of Appeals on procedural grounds

National Center for State Courts

And More New DirectionsJury Service Resource Center v. De Muniz, S52571 (Ore. filed April 27, 2006)Constitutional challenge to the confidentiality of source list, master jury list, and jury term list records on First Amendment groundsDistinguishes voir dire (presumptively open to the public under First Amendment) from the administrative jury process

National Center for State Courts

Pending ApplicationsBest Practices for Improving the Response to Jury SummonsesFollow-up programsSource list compilation and managementJury fees

Urban Courts Workshop

Plain-English Jury Instruction Workshop

Community-Supported Jury Service

National Center for State Courts

New and NoteworthyNew NCSC PublicationsJury Trial Innovations (2d ed.)Communicating with Juries: How to Draft Understandable Jury InstructionsCompendium publication of findings from the State-of-the-States SurveyWebsite with state-by-state comparisonsDatasets will be available for research purposes

Upcoming EventsICM Jury Management, October 25-27, 2006 (Orlando, Florida)ABA Jury Symposium, October 26-27, 2006 (Houston, Texas)Sponsored by ABA Commission on the American Jury Project

National Center for State Courts

What You Might DoSubscribe to Jur-E BulletinFree, weekly and an open communicationwww.ncsconline.orgSelect newslettersSubscribe to JuryManagersList List-ServGet Publications from NCSCGet Principles from www.abanet.orgGet a copy of this presentation from NACM website

National Center for State Courts

National Center for State Courts