Juries In-depth: Jury Improvement Efforts

Overview

Beginning in the late 1970’s, many people began to recognize that the jury system was not operating as well as it could.  Since that time, and particularly since the mid-1990’s, at least 27 states and the District of Columbia have devoted extensive efforts to setting forth agendas for improving their jury systems.  A list of the reports of these jury improvement groups, along with links where many of the reports can be accessed, has been compiled by the Center for Jury Studies of the National Center for State Courts.  Click here to go to that list.

For a succinct agenda that includes many of the improvements recommended by most reports, click here to go the District of Columbia’s agenda.  For a more extensive agenda, click here to view a summary of the report of the Arizona improvement group.    And for the one of the most extensive agendas—California's— click here. For a second-phase report from New York, click here.

This is not to say, however, that most of the items on any of the agendas have been accomplished.  In all jurisdictions, jury improvement is a “work in progress,” both because attitudes change slowly, and because many of the improvements take money, which states usually find in short supply.