Fair Jury Trials During the Pandemic

Courts across the country are now facing a unique challenge: developing fair jury trials during the pandemic.

According to the law, anyone who is accused of committing a crime is entitled to a trial in front of a jury. It is widely accepted that poor jury diversity can seriously skew the outcome of a trial from the onset.

But the ability to conduct a fair jury trial has been severely impacted by the recent coronavirus pandemic since stay-at-home orders and health concerns have severely limited the pool for a fair grand jury selection.

It is common knowledge that the sixth amendment clearly states that, in all criminal prosecution, the accused has the constitutional right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury. However, the complications in selecting from a diverse pool of jurors that have arisen due to COVID-19 could potentially have rendered picking a truly fair and impartial jury significantly more difficult.

But Why is it Difficult to Select a Fair Jury During a Pandemic?

In order for a jury trial to be considered fair, the accused is entitled to a grand jury that has been selected from an average and adequate cross-section of the community. But the circumstances that surround the coronavirus pandemic may mean that certain demographics have been eliminated from that selection.

The pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on the elderly, people of color, and those with lower incomes. Because of this, it is anticipated that large proportions of jurors selected from these demographics will ask to be excused from jury duty or will not appear in court, either because of financial or health concerns.

Without a large and diverse jury pool from which to select a fair and unbiased group of jurors, any trials held at this time could be at risk of being deemed unconstitutional, particularly if the defendant is found guilty.

A future onslaught of potentially unconstitutional trials could wreak havoc on the United States justice system. Not to mention the number of defendants who could stand to be wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Selecting A Fair Jury Was Already Difficult

Although every effort is typically made to ensure a jury is fairly selected, the current state of the pandemic has only exacerbated an already existing issue.

Prior to the outbreak, it was fairly well-known that jury representativeness was often swayed in the direction of white people and those with higher incomes. This is primarily because people of color or those who fall into the low-income category are more likely to move around a lot and be underrepresented.

The issue extends to the elderly too, as the statistics show that only 53% of those over the age of 65 said they would report for jury duty during the pandemic. This is understandable, as according to the CDC seniors are 90% more likely to die from coronavirus than those who are between the ages of 18 and 29.

If that was not enough, there is also a political sway. Research has shown that significantly more Democrats than Republicans believe the coronavirus to be a big problem. Thus, impacting the number of Democrats versus Republicans that are likely to show up for a jury trial, with the latter estimated to be much more likely to show up for jury duty if called upon.

The overall issue here lies within the importance of selecting from a diverse pool of jurors in order to render a trial fair and constitutional. After all, the whole point of a jury trial is that you want the selected pool of jurors to be as diversified in as many different areas as possible, and represent a fair cross-section of the community.

If specific demographics are significantly less likely to report for jury duty because of the effects of COVID-19, the selected pool will not be equitable, which is a violation of any defendant's constitutional right to a fair jury trial.

To conclude, given that it’s even more likely that an unconstitutional jury trial may occur when an already existing issue has been exacerbated by the coronavirus, the question is whether or not the court system should be trying people at all during this unpredictable time. Surely the justice system cannot, in good conscience, risk trying huge numbers of defendants in front of unfairly selected or potentially biased juries.

For legal guidance with choosing a “fair” jury, schedule an appointment with an experienced litigation attorney at Lee Scott Perres, P.C.