ACLU: Alameda County juries don't reflect demographics

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Courtroom jury pools in racially diverse Alameda County have far fewer African American and Latino members than their share of the jury-eligible population, and one reason is the county's failure to contact people who fail to report for jury duty, the American Civil Liberties Union says in a new report.

The ACLU study looked at 11 felony trials in 2009 and 2010, involving nearly 1,500 prospective jurors. While African Americans represented 18 percent of the population eligible for jury service, the group said, only 8 percent of those who showed up after being summoned to court were black.

Latinos accounted for 12 percent of the jury-eligible population and 8 percent of those who reported to court, the study said.

By contrast, the report said, whites reported for jury service in the same numbers as their share of the eligible population, 54 percent. Asians and Pacific Islanders reported in larger numbers - making up 26 percent of the prospective jurors in court, compared with 15 percent of the jury-eligible population.

The report didn't examine the racial makeup of actual juries. Lawyers are prohibited from removing jurors based on their race, but the racial composition of the pool of prospective jurors is often reflected in the jury chosen to hear a case.

The ACLU said the study, though based on a limited number of cases, suggests that the county's courts need to change their procedures for assembling pools of prospective jurors.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/27/BASH1GHBGO.DTL