Final Report of the Committee on Improving Jury Service

 

Published by

Administrative Office of the Courts

Scott M. Matheson Courthouse

450 South State Street, Suite N31

P.O. Box 140241

Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-0241

 

July 19, 2000

 

http://courtlink.utcourts.gov/reports/

 

 

The Honorable Richard C. Howe

Chief Justice, Utah Supreme Court

Chairman, Utah Judicial Council

 

Dear Chief Justice Howe:

 

The work of the Committee on Improving Jury Service emphasizes education. We recommend changes to statutes and rules that will significantly improve the environment in which jurors work and the decisions they make, but our investigation has shown that Utah’s jury system is well-administered, conforms almost completely to the ABA Standards Relating to Jury Use and Management and already contains sufficient discretion in judges to permit many of the innovations developed by jury studies in other states. Continuing education, therefore, is the key to putting into practice the recommended changes as well as the discretion judges already enjoy. To this end, much of the discussion on any particular procedure is designed to reflect, for the benefit of judges and lawyers, best practices in implementing that procedure. We encourage the organs of the judiciary and of the Utah State Bar to include in conferences and classrooms the topics developed in this report. The report itself, with appropriate amendments, should be reduced to a section of the judges’ bench book, and its principles should be included in new judge orientation.

 

Education is also the key to improving the public’s perception of jury trials. To this end, we recommend local bar associations and judges work together to prepare and deliver presentations in their communities about the role of law in a republican government and the role of jury trials within the law. We encourage the Board of District Court Judges and the Board of Justice Court Judges to assist in this effort to reach not only adult members of the community but school-age children as well. The most important audience may be those young citizens who are just now coming of age and those who will qualify for jury service in another five years. Committee members, working with the Bar and the Administrative Office of the Courts, have initiated discussions with the State Board of Higher Education to include the role of law and jury trials within the curriculum of university education departments so that we might teach the teachers who will teach our children.

 

And education is the key to improving the experience of jury service itself: to improve the orientation of jurors and so better educate them about the trial process and their responsibilities within that framework; and to incorporate into the courtroom the adult education techniques of the classroom and so better educate jurors about the case at hand. Jurors need to be much more than mute observers of a mystical ceremony. The actions of jurors must be controlled by the rules of law just as the actions of judges and lawyers are controlled, but experience has shown that an active role for jurors is an appropriate role.

 

Many of these recommendations are couched in terms of challenges and encouragement, suggestions and discretion. This is not soft language indicative of a failure to reach consensus on anything stronger. This is the collective opinion of the Committee that, in some areas, there is no uniform best practice but rather a variety of good practices. In the body of the report we state that, if jurors are conscientious and deliberative, they will reach the correct result regardless of the outcome. Similarly, if judges and lawyers guide their discretion by the principle of respect for jurors as peers, as colleagues and as responsible representatives of the community, they will improve the service of those jurors and the outcome of the trial without regard to the recommendations of this Committee.

 

The old saw “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know” applies to this Committee. Our work is not done, but we are not the group to continue the effort. Throughout the report we refer to the need for more research, further development, continuing education, and oversight. We recommend a standing committee of the Judicial Council to monitor jury use, to maintain current research on jury management, to research and respond to the opinions of jurors, and to assist with continuing education.

 

Many of the recommendations can be implemented without any cost, but many others are certain to cost money. In only one area, a new data entry technician for gathering demographic information about jurors and measuring juror yield, has the Committee recommended a particular implementation plan with a new position and all of its attendant costs. For the remainder of the recommendations, the nature and amount of the expenses are be affected by unknowns. The Committee believes its recommendations to represent sound policy and urges the Judicial Council and Supreme Court to determine and provide for the expenses of implementation as they occur. Developing budgets as well as funding sources for these proposal is an appropriate responsibility for a standing committee.

 

This Committee, without exception or qualification, represents the finest example of deliberative decision making that we have ever experienced. We would like to express to the Committee’s members and staff our appreciation for their time, their dedication and their tireless effort.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Christine M. Durham	William A. Thorne, Jr.
Justice, Utah Supreme Court	Judge, Third District Court
Committee Co-chair	Committee Co-Chair

Committee Members

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Committee Members.................................................................................................................... i

Table of Contents........................................................................................................................ iii

Summary of Recommendations......................................................................... 5

1)       Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 11

2)       Education............................................................................................................................................................ 11

A)       Public Education and Outreach...................................................................................................... 11

B)       Juror Orientation...................................................................................................................................... 13

C)       Judge and Lawyer Education............................................................................................................. 14

3)       Jury Selection.................................................................................................................................................. 14

A)       Jury Source Lists......................................................................................................................................... 14

i)        Improving the Existing Lists....................................................................................................................... 14

ii)       Improved Source Lists.................................................................................................................................. 16

B)       Juror Qualifications............................................................................................................................... 16

C)       Inviting Jurors With Disabilities...................................................................................................... 17

D)       Qualification and Summons Process............................................................................................ 18

E)       Voir Dire............................................................................................................................................................ 20

i)        Judge-Conducted and Lawyer-Conducted Voir Dire............................................................................ 20

ii)       Voir Dire Questionnaires............................................................................................................................ 21

F)       Juror Privacy................................................................................................................................................ 22

G)       Demographic Information About Jurors................................................................................... 26

H)       Method of Selecting Jurors................................................................................................................. 28

I)        Selecting Alternate Jurors................................................................................................................ 29

J)        Challenges for Cause.............................................................................................................................. 30

K)       One Day – One Trial.................................................................................................................................... 32

4)       The Trial............................................................................................................................................................... 33

A)       Juror Notes..................................................................................................................................................... 33

B)       Juror Questions........................................................................................................................................... 34

C)       Preliminary Statement of the Case............................................................................................... 35

D)       Periodic Summary of the Evidence.................................................................................................. 35

E)       Presenting the Evidence.......................................................................................................................... 35

F)       Plain Language Jury Instructions.................................................................................................. 36

G)       Preliminary and Interim Instructions........................................................................................ 37

5)       Deliberations................................................................................................................................................... 38

A)       Preliminary Deliberations................................................................................................................... 38

B)       AJS Guide to Deliberations................................................................................................................... 38

6)       Considering the Jurors............................................................................................................................. 39

A)       Trial Schedul