Justice Matters commentary: Jury selection process has improved through the years

“You have been summoned for jury duty.” The mere mention of these words may cause anxiety for some individuals. The summons never seems to come at a good time. For many people’s lives, the prospect of jury duty means interrupting work or family obligations.

Jurors have always played a vital role in our American system of justice. The right to trial by jury is one of the core rights upon which our nation was founded. In fact, it is in our bill of rights! So we are proud of all citizens who fulfill this important civic duty to ensure courts continue to provide lItigants a “jury of their peers” to help resolve criminal and civil cases.

During my visitis to circuit courts the past 22 months, I’ve had the chance to talk with a lot of circuit clerks, deputy clerks and other jury supervisors who are integral to managing our jury system. They all agree how important it is for citizens to perform the civic duty of jury service by showing up and giving their time when summoned. That willingness of local citizens to serve on juries is something I have valued since I started practicing law.

State law governs who can serve as a juror, and courts largely draw on their pools of prospective jurors from voter records, drivers’ licenses and state identification cards. But a lot has changed in the last few decades about the jury selection process itself, including the process of courts selecting and communicating with prospective jurors. 

Nearly a quarter-century ago, the Supreme Court of Missouri began requiring local courts to use a uniform juror qualification form and questionnaire. It also required courts to provide the responses to lawyers so they could prepare for trial. Those changes certainly helped cut down on the number of questions lawyers had to ask during jury selection at the courthouse, helping trials move faster (and letting individuals not chosen as jurors go home sooner). 

Our Court also adopted a rule to allow local judges to decide whether to let jurors take notes during trial. This can be especially helpful during a longer trial or one with a lot of witnesses, to help jurors keep their thoughts straight. Additionally, our Court began improving jury instructions for statewide use, to make sure they were given throughout the trial and with less “legalese.”

But perhaps the biggest change in jury management has come through technology. Once upon a time, before we had electronic databases, I have learned local courts may have used a “jury wheel” to help them randomly select citizens for the jury pool. Each time the court needed to bring in a jury for a trial, the clerks would pull names from the list of local citizens, put the names (or corresponding numbers) into the jury wheel, then spin the wheel, draw out a name, and repeat the process until they had the requisite number of prospective jurors selected.

Then mass mailings would begin, summonsing the individuals whose names had been selected. A lot of paper already had exchanged hands, as individuals who might be in the prospective pool of jurors for a certain time frame had previously been asked to answer questionnaires.

Today, citizens can complete most of their work online in “Show-Me Jury,” our secure online juror portal. This saves our prospective jurors time and money, not to mention a trip to the post office or local court to return the questionnaire. If necessary, you can ask online for your term of service to be postponed. If you need special accommodations, you can upload a document explaining your request through the juror portal. You can also ask your court to follow up with you by e-mail or text message.

And our dress code for female jurors has changed. Even into the 1990s, some rural Missouri courts still required women lawyers, litigants — and jurors — to wear skirts. One even had a sign on the wall advising: “No slacks are permitted. By Order of the Circuit Court. Notice! All women who testify in court or serve on jury must wear a dress. No slacks.” Thankfully, this too is a relic of the past.

Through the years, courts and their staffs have continued to advocate for increased juror compensation. Easing the financial burden of jury service helps more citizens to serve, to ensure our jury pools truly reflect a cross-section of communities. We remain hopeful the legislature will adopt additional changes yet this session so jurors’ mileage rates match those of state employees. As our local court staff have told me, they want juror compensation to better reflect the importance of jurors. 

I hope all of these improvements make it a little easier for citizens to fulfill this important civic duty. When I have spoken with people who have served as jurors, they universally have said how glad they were to have served, and how impactful and meaningful their experience was. 

I believe you will find it rewarding to serve on a jury. As a juror, you reflect the conscience of your community. You help uphold fairness, protect against injustice and preserve the rights of your fellow citizens. Being a juror gives you a wonderful opportunity to help shape our system of justice, one trial at a time.