Jury of peers? Not at $25/day

Multnomah County Circuit Court. It’s the same size and color envelope as most junk mail, but this letter stands out when a person is shuffling through the day’s haul at the mailbox. I think I’ve served on Jury Duty three times before. Once for a week, when I was on the jury for a Reckless Driving case. Once for two days, after the length of service was shortened – that time I was called to a pool but not selected. And the last time for one day, when my number never came up and I sat for several hours reading in the jury room. That’s all most jury summons are for these days – one day.

So I wasn’t too concerned…. until I opened the letter and found I’ve been assigned to a pool of jurors for a Grand Jury, with likely minimum service four weeks, maybe longer. Just lucky, I guess. The summons was to start September 7. I’d get an automatic excuse if I were over 70 or a breastfeeding mother… not enough time to accomplish either before September 7. Or I could petition a hardship for economic reasons or if I am the caregiver for a child with no other childcare options… somehow I don’t think they’d buy it if I claimed my 17 year-old daughter in that category.

The letter said I could ask for a deferral of up to one year, with the requirement to state my reasons. I’m going to a conference the second week in September and a convention in October, then my parents are visiting from England for the first time in six years – no way do I want to miss any of that. So I said I could start my service the day my mom leaves in November. Politics tends to simmer down over Thanksgiving and in December here in Portland, and I can’t think of a four week period before next September that’s any less busy either in City stuff or for my family.

But get this: Jury pay when you serve more than one day is $25 a day. It’s only $10 for one day’s service. Some employers make up the salary of employees serving on jury duty, but others don’t. Twenty-five dollars a day is $500/month, for the four weeks of service. That’s less than half minimum wage. Even for someone like me for whom $25 a day is $25 more than I would normally be paid for civic involvement, the value of the other public-benefit projects I won’t be able to do because I’m serving on a Grand Jury is more than that.

So what this boils down to, is that only affluent people and those whose employers subsidize their Grand Jury duty can afford to participate. I think that’s wrong.

And before you think I’m asking you to cry me a river, consider this:

Suppose you were asked to state a four week time period some time over the next 12 months, when you would be able to stop doing what you normally do Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in order to serve on a Grand Jury for $25/day, when would those four weeks be?

If we value the jury system, which I do, the pay structure needs to be reformed to make it possible for more people to be able to afford to serve. And to compensate those who do, with minimum wages – otherwise the jury of peers is likely to be a jury of grumpy, resentful peers (surely that’s not the goal?) at least partly wanting the process to be over as soon as possible. I seem to remember that currently, there’s an option to waive the $10 day’s jury pay, with the money funding something worthy. I’d be happier/less begrudging about serving for four weeks if I were paid minimum wage that I could then donate to the charity of my choice. In this country, we shouldn’t extort labor for minimal compensation, even for something worthy like jury duty, when the “volunteer” really has no choice but to comply.