email : Webview : San Francisco’s Be The Jury Program Reaches 1,000th Participant and Releases One-Year Evaluation

Last week, the San Francisco Be The Jury Program welcomed its 1,000th participant!

And yesterday we released our one-year evaluation of the program! The study shows that compensating low-income jurors $100 a day lowers barriers to participation and results in more economically and racially diverse jury pools.

The San Francisco Be The Jury Pilot Program increases juror compensation from $15 a day to $100 a day for low- to moderate-income jurors. The pilot program inspired the introduction of the Be The Jury California Act, or AB 881, authored by San Francisco Assemblymember Phil Ting, which would increase juror pay in additional California counties. The legislation has received media coverage in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED and more.

Read the Summary

Jury duty is perhaps the most meaningful opportunity for true civic engagement that our judicial system provides. However, due to financial constraints, many prospective jurors, often those from the neighborhoods most impacted by the criminal legal system, are deprived of this opportunity for engagement due to economic hardship.

In San Francisco, a survey found that 35 percent of jurors report that jury service imposed a financial hardship. The Be The Jury Program compensates jurors with low-to-moderate incomes with $100 per day for jury service in criminal trials.

Key findings from the first year of this program include:

84% of people said they were able to serve as a result of the $100 a day compensation
60% of participants were people of color, nearly matching San Francisco’s racial and economic makeup
The median income for participants was $38,000, far below San Francisco’s median income of $121,826
Each juror served an average of 3 to 4 days

Our local San Francisco Be The Jury Program has inspired AB 881: Be The Jury CA, which would expand the program to other California counties and continue to pave the way for raising jury pay statewide for jurors with low incomes. We encourage the Legislature to pass this important bill and Governor Newsom to sign it when it comes to his desk.

Read the Summary

Be The Jury is a collaborative effort among San Francisco’s justice partners. We are grateful to the San Francisco Superior Court, Public Defender’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, the San Francisco Bar Association, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, and Assemblymember Phil Ting.

Yours in Financial Justice,

Anne, Michelle, Cecilia, and Neha

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove®
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA | 94102 US

This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.