California Seeks to Diversify Jury Pools

The Fair Juries Act expands the jury pool to include taxpayers.

California Seeks to Diversify Jury Pools

A fundamental principle of our criminal justice system is the right to trial by a jury of your peers. If you are charged with a criminal offense, you not only have a right to take your case to trial — but to have an impartial jury of people within your community hear the charges against you and render a decision.

Of course, it doesn’t always work out like that. As a criminal attorney in San Bernardino, CA, juries often look nothing like the defendants in criminal cases. In part, this is due to the way that prosecutors may use their challenges to eliminate certain jurors from the jury pool. Another factor is the way that jury pools are developed. A new law seeks to address this second issue.

Under Senate Bill 592 (SB 592), also known as the Fair Juries Act, jury commissioners in California will now be required to use additional information to determine lists of potential jurors. Currently, jury commissioners use lists from the Department of Motor Vehicles as well as voter rolls. As a result, only those individuals with driver’s licenses and those who are registered to vote are included in jury pools. Under SB 592, jury commissioners will be required to obtain a list of all state tax filers from the Franchise Tax Board to use in making lists of potential jurors.

This law should help to diversify California’s juries. Many Californians do not own cars, and many more are not registered to vote. Using just DMV data and voter rolls has a tendency to make juries much whiter and wealthier than the community as a whole.

When jury pools are more diverse, the outcome is often better for defendants in criminal cases. While you cannot predict how a juror will act based on their race or their socioeconomic status, these factors do affect how a person thinks about certain issues. For example, a person who is relatively well off may not understand why a person would shoplift food to feed their family. A person who has struggled with food insecurity may have firsthand experience with what it feels like to be unable to buy food. Similarly, a white juror may not have the same perspective as a Black, Latinx, or Asian juror. If the defendant in a criminal trial is Black, having an all white jury may mean that they do not truly get a fair trial. By including a broader range of people in jury pools, there is a greater possibility that everyone charged with a crime have a jury of their peers.

If you have been charged with a criminal offense, the Chambers Law Firm is here for you. With experience as both a prosecutor and a criminal defense lawyer, attorney Dan E. Chambers has the knowledge and skills necessary to obtain a favorable outcome. To learn more or to schedule a free initial consultation with a criminal attorney in San Bernardino, CA, contact our firm today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com.

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