Judging Juries reveals the barriers to jury service which deprive defendants in criminal cases of juries which represent a cross-section of the community.While there are many issues contributing to the lack of diversity in the jury pool, juror pay is at the top of the list. In California, jurors receive $15 per day for jury duty. In Mississippi, they receive $5 per day and in New York state they receive $40 per day.Clearly, this payment schedule needs to be revised, particularly if jury duty requires the possibility of missed weeks of work without compensation. Many prospective jurors are not paid by their employers for jury service and therefore face real financial hardship if forced to serve for $15 per day.An innovative program in San Francisco called Be the Jury, which pays jurors $100 per day, has discovered that many more working people and people of color are able to serve as a result of this increase in compensation. The film looks at the issue of juror pay, the use of peremptory challenges which permit the dismissal of potential jurors for no stated reason and the use of former felony convictions as a bar to jury service.Recent legislation in California is seeking to minimize the negative impact of these obstacles to jury service.
Biography:
Abby Ginzberg is a Peabody award-winning director who has been producing compelling documentaries about race and social justice for over 30 years. Her most recent film, Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power is an intimate, compelling film about Rep. Barbara Lee, who is best known for her lone NO vote against the use of military force following the 9/11 attacks and has spent the last 23 years in Congress fighting for peace, justice and equality. Waging Change, a documentary about the challenges faced by tipped servers, forced to rely on their tips and the federal tipped minimum wage of $2.13 per hour. And Then They Came for Us, about the connection between the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII and the Muslim travel ban. She co-produced and co-directed Agents of Change, about the Black student movement of the late 1960’s on college campuses. Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa won a 2015 Peabody award and has screened at film festivals around the world, winning four audience awards. Abby was the Consulting Producer on The Barber of Birmingham, was nominated for an Oscar®
