PSU Magazine Winter 1994

Most subpoenaed jurors never serve on a jury in Multnomah County. A PSU study may improve the numbers. By Valerie Brown Professor Lee Haggerty John Geil • • e ur1es h, the Multnomah County Courthouse-its fine hardwoods and ornate brass work, its marb led steps worn by the passing tread of thousands of citizens-a nice place to visit, yes. But who wants to take two weeks off work to pend all day every day appreciating its aesthetic delight and civic atmo phere? Alas, tho e called to jury duty in Multnomah County must do that very thing. They mu t develop a zen attitude to endure the numbing boredom of the process, not to mention the p tential loss of income, the child care and transportation hassles, and other hardship that come with the job. Former juror K.C. Reyburn describes her jury duty last ummer as "incred ibly boring." "It's like a cattle call for theater tryouts," she says, "except it's not nearly so exciting. There's not anything rewarding at the end of the tunnel." No wonder on ly 13 percent of those subpoenaed actua lly how up. Last spring and summer, PSU facul– ty and students conducted research to help the local justice system gather information about the jury selection process in hopes of improving the dismal response percentage. The project was initiated by the Multnomah Bar Association's (MBA) jury se lection subcommittee chaired by John Geil of Rieke, Geil and Savage. Support came from the Oregon upreme Court Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courrs, the Oreg n Trial Lawyers Association, and the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers A ociation. P U ociology Profe or Lee Haggerty and Sociology Department Chair Robert Shotola supervised a project comparing the demographic characteristics of the community with those of the jury pool. Twenty sociology and psychology students in Profes or Haggerty's applied survey re earch course did the spadework through the PSU Center for Sociological Research. The specific worry wa that Multnomah County jurie wouldn't reflect the larger community. "There was anecdotal information that jury pools were not representa– tive," Geil says. "People had different op inions. It was sort of like the blind men and the elephant-everyone had a different description." Although the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to a jury trial, it doesn't pecify how to select jurors. Oregon law require jury pools to be a "fair cro s- ection" of the county's citizen , but that phrase has not been clearly WINTER ! 994 5