NJ is now tracking demographics for jury selection

By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... New Jersey's court system has started to collect demographic information about jurors as selection processes in trials across the state.
..... This new effort can provide attorneys with more time to assess the makeup of a jury pool before trail, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts.
..... Collecting demographic information about a potential juror's race, ethnicity and gender was a key part of reforms the New Jersey Supreme Court approved in July 2022 to improve jury selection processes. Potential jurors have the option to provide the information on their qualification questionnaires, officials said.
..... New Jersey is the first state court system to collect the information in this way and the jury demographic intake is part the state's new jury management system.
..... "By collecting juror information at the earliest possible state, New Jersey will for the first time have a clear picture of the degree to which our jury pools align with their communities," Glenn Grant, administrative director of the courts, said in a statement. "Attorneys and parties in a trail will be able to obtain demographic data in advance of a trial to determine if there is an under-representation of particulate race, ethnicity, or gender in a jury poll."

When did this start?

.....The phased roll-out of the new process stated last summer [2022] and has reached all of the state's 21 counties as of this week, [05/05/2023] according to the Administrative office of the Courts.
..... Since the voluntary collection stated in Bergen, Camden and Middlesex counties, more than 90% of jurors in those counties provided the requested information.
..... New Jersey Bar Association President Jeralyn Lawrence said in a statement that her organization believes in the "foundational constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury with a process that allows for a jury pool drawn from a fair cross-section of the community."
..... "Collection demographic information about potential jurors increases transparency in the selection process to ensure these rights are fully protected, and guards against the risk of unconstitutional jury selection and under representative juries," she said.
..... Alexander Shalom, the senior supervising attorney, noted that this information will make it possible to track trends over time and could lead to further reforms.
..... He said the demographic collection is only a starting point and that it alone is not sufficient in ensuring that juries are representative of New Jersey.
..... "That requires a bunch of things, It requires allowing people with criminal convictions to serve on juries, because by excluding them we're kept our juries proportionately white," Shalom said. "It requires paying jurors more because right now we have such an abysmally low rate of pay that only people with certain jobs are financially able to serve on jury duty. There are a series of reforms that need to take place to ensure true representative democracy in the jury room but collecting demographic information will help us get to that goal."

Ongoing delays

..... While jury selection may be working more efficiently, the court may be working other issues when it comes to litigation.
..... Delays are being experienced in all sorts of legal cases across New Jersey's state court system. The delays are due in large part to an extensive backlog of cases. The backlog, which stands at more than 75,000 cases statewide, according to the state courts system, is the result of a judicial system still playing catch-up after the pandemic. New Jersey is also contending with a historic number of vacancies on judicial benches.
..... In February, [2023] Che if Justice Stuart Rabner suspended civil and divorce trails in two parts of the state.
..... Rabner said in a statement that "because of the current high number of judicial vacancies," trails will be suspended in vicinage 13, which comprises Underdone, Somerset and Warren counties, and in vicinage 15, which covers Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.
..... Potential judges for New Jersey's courts are formally nominated by the governor after a months-long vetting process. Nominees are then interviewed by the state Senate Judiciary Committee before being approved by the full sate Senate.

Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. email: sobko@northjersy.com.

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