OAKLAND — Serving on a jury in Alameda County simply grew to become rather a lot more durable on the pockets.
Alameda County Public Defender Brendan Woods instantly slammed the reduce as “disheartening and cruel.” Compensation has routinely been one of many greatest limitations to folks serving on juries, and he had lauded the pilot program as a key means for lower-income residents to serve on juries with larger regularity.
“It’s devastating — it’s absolutely shameful that this money is being cut,” Woods mentioned. He questioned the knowledge of eliminating an initiative that amounted to such a tiny sliver of the state’s total felony justice spending. “To cut this program after it’s been in place for eight months is shameful. I just don’t understand it.”
On Thursday, the Alameda County Superior Court docket’s presiding decide additionally lamented the change.
“We share the disappointment of our justice partners who had hoped this study would provide insight into how increased compensation could diversify jury pools,” Choose Thomas Nixon mentioned in a press release accompanying the announcement. “Jurors are an essential part of our judicial system, and we need to do all we can to increase participation.”
Alameda County was amongst seven counties throughout California to take part within the $27 million pilot program, which started in August 2024 and had been anticipated to proceed for 2 years, or till funding ran out. It additionally boosted mileage reimbursement for journey to and from courthouses from 34 cents a mile to 67 cents a mile.
The rationale for this system was easy: with jurors at the moment solely receiving barely sufficient cash daily for a couple of cups of espresso, many had begged to be left off jury panels, claiming monetary hardship. Because of this, juries typically disproportionately skewed in favor of wealthier folks, those that might persuade their employer to maintain paying them whereas they served, or folks for whom working is just not a priority in any respect.
Typically, it wasn’t sufficient to cowl a sandwich and a bag of chips — an vital barometer, provided that jurors don’t obtain cash for meals whereas serving. Jurors additionally solely get $1 off the $7-a-day value to park within the county parking storage closest to the Rene C. Davidson courthouse in downtown Oakland, the place most of the county’s most severe — and longest-running — trials are held.
The opposite counties concerned within the pilot included El Dorado, Fresno, Imperial, Monterey, San Bernardino and Shasta counties.
Jurors already serving on juries will proceed to obtain $100 a day till their service is full, the court docket system mentioned. Nevertheless, anybody who was chosen starting Wednesday will return to the outdated $15-a-day price, in addition to the earlier mileage reimbursement quantity.
As a part of this system, the Nationwide Middle for State Courts was imagined to survey jurors and decide the efficacy of the pilot program. It stays unclear whether or not the middle will problem any stories, given how the pilot program ended so rapidly.
Woods mentioned some attorneys in Alameda County had advised him that juries appeared to change into extra various with the raised price. Reducing this system, he mentioned, “makes no sense” given how Black defendants and folks of colour have traditionally been incarcerated at disproportionately excessive charges.
“They’re going to continue to be judged by people who are rich, white and affluent, who can afford to serve as jurors,” Woods mentioned. “That’s not a just system.”
