July 9, 2010
Jury Managers Toolbox Will Help Evaluate Jury Operations
The National Center for State Courts’ Center for Jury Studies recently rolled out a new tool for trial courts to help evaluate the effectiveness of the court’s jury program.
“The Jury Managers’ Toolbox” (JMT) is designed specifically for jury managers and their office staff to collect and analyze data in conjunction with jury management software. According to Tom Shields, Franklin County Municipal Court jury commissioner, this is the first time that anything like this has been available, which makes it a huge step forward. Ohio served as one of the six state test sites, and Shields, as an Ohio Jury Management Association trustee, served as OJMA’s point of contact.
OJMA will be discussing possible ways to assist the courts in Ohio with the implementation of the JMT.
Shields explained that any jury management or court administration staff that has access to the Internet (and a password) can use this toolbox to assist them in determining the effectiveness of their current jury management program. To do this, the court enters into the JMT all reporting data. This normally includes the total number summoned, how many actually reported, those that failed to appear, and the demographics for their jurisdiction (for comparison to the U.S. Census data).
By law, jury offices are mandated to provide a sampling that is representative of the population of their jurisdiction. This can become quite a task, and that is what makes the JMT so important, Shields said.
“Achieving this correct sampling has changed dramatically over the past 30 years that I have been jury commissioner for the Franklin County Municipal Court,” he said. “I have watched this process evolve from a manual program to the software we are currently using. The jury pools have moved from ‘Housewife, Unemployed, and Retired’ to the current samplings that are now very close to U.S. Census FactFinder estimates for Franklin County. Almost all trial courts in Ohio are using jury management software with very few exceptions. Software affords us the opportunity to not only track data, but to change course where needed in order to comply with the constitutional mandate.”
Jury programs in Ohio vary from county to county depending on the need of the trial court. Programs range from one day/one trial to several months on call. No matter what type of jury management Ohio’s courts are using, the priority to provide a demographic sampling of the court’s jurisdiction remains the same.
Another element of the JMT is to suggest targeted strategies to improve performance and to also estimate the fiscal and operational impact of those strategies.
“The JMT should be very helpful alongside jury management software or updated manual programs to help any trial court maintain or improve their jury management program,” Shields said.
Contact: Tom Shields, 614.645.7652.