I’ve been asked about my plan to increase representation of Black people on juries. This thread outlines FIVE steps every state should take to increase representation on juries. See what has been done in CA & what is left to accomplish. #JuryofYourPeers #BlackLivesMatterOnJuries
1. Eliminating the felony exclusion. Over 30% of Black men in CA were excluded from jury service b/c of a felony conviction & it didn’t matter how old it was... until we passed SB310 by @NancySkinnerCA. We fixed that. #EndFelonyJuryExclusion sfchronicle.com/opinion/openfo…
2. Expanding the list from which jurors are called to serve beyond CDL and voting reg. SB592 by @Scott_Wiener was passed, expanding the list to include names of tax fliers. But it should be expanded further to include utility bills and recipients of state benefits. #ExpandTheList
3. Changing the flawed Batson process that allows prosecutors to use challenges to remove Black people from juries for reasons such as having a bad experience with police. AB3070 was passed & will fix that but it doesn’t go into effect until 1/2022 sfchronicle.com/opinion/openfo…
4. Paying people at least minimum wage to serve as jurors instead of the $15 dollars a day they currently receive. AB1452 has been introduced as a pilot program in SF to pay low-income jurors $100 a day. #PayJurorsMinimumWage sfweekly.com/news/balancing…
5. Juror outreach about the importance of serving on juries. A model similar to @JurorProject. Our juror outreach project stalled because of pandemic but we will be back on that very soon. #JurorOutreach
So ..for the person who questioned me – this is not just talk. This is a relentless commitment to fighting systemic racism in the criminal legal system & fighting for my clients. #CareNotCages #EndMassIncarceration #BattleReady #PublicDefender sfchronicle.com/local/article/…
So ..for the person who questioned me – this is not just talk. This is a relentless commitment to fighting systemic racism in the criminal legal system & fighting for my clients. #CareNotCages #EndMassIncarceration #BattleReady sfchronicle.com/local/article/…
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