"Be The Jury made it possible for me to serve as a juror without worrying about whether I could afford meals or meet my basic needs,” said Kiswendsida Kola, a pilot program participant in San Francisco’s Be The Jury program. “I am excited about the possibility of Be The Jury expanding to other counties in California to help ensure our criminal justice system is more inclusive and sustainable.”
Because many low-income families cannot afford to forfeit days, weeks, or months of their salary, many minimum wage or low-income workers who file a claim of financial hardship are excused from service. Due to racial income inequality, low jury pay excludes many Black and Latinx community members from ever serving as a juror even though people involved in criminal cases—both the person accused and the person who may have experienced harm—often come from the same communities and share relevant life experiences.
“No one should be priced out of jury service," said San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros. “Results from San Francisco's Be The Jury program demonstrate that this program helps level the playing field–making it possible for San Franciscans with lower incomes to participate in their community’s constitutional right to a jury by their peers."
Under the Be The Jury CA bill, jurors qualify for the daily $100 stipend if their household income is less than 80 percent of their area median income and they meet one of the additional criteria: (1) their employer does not compensate for any jury service; (2) their employer will not compensate for the estimated duration of the trial; (3) they are self-employed; or (4) they are unemployed.
