Provide black defendants a jury of their peers - no all white juries
A 2005 study at the University of Illinois exposed the disproportionate numbers of African American jurors called for jury duty.
African Americans comprise about 4% of jury pools at the Champaign County courthouse and make up about 12% of the population. In our door-to-door canvassing of black residents we are beginning to get a sense of the reasons for the lack of black representation on juries:
- Residents are sent questionnares about themselves regarding fitness for jury duty. These questionnaires include a question about if anyone in one's family has a prior conviction. Because of systemic injustice, many black residents do have family members with prior convictions so they consider themselves in eligible or do not want to expose family members in these documents - so they simply don't send them back.
- For those who do send the form back, it is unclear if jurors who do have family members with criminal convictions are excluded from jury pools.
- Juries are paid $15 per day. For a low income person, this does not even match minimum wage and creates a hardship on their family to serve.
- Many black residents feel victimized by the criminal justice system and resist it through non-participation when they can.