Donating Jury Pay: A Well-Intentioned Vehicle for Bias?

 In 1995, Texas passed a law requiring counties to offer jurors the option of donating part or all of their jury pay to their choice of pre-selected charitable causes. Section 61.003 of the Texas Government Code states that the list of organizations should include the (1) Texas Crime Victims Compensation Fund; (2) the county’s child welfare or child services program; (3) any public or private nonprofit that services victims of family violence; (4) “any other program . . . including a program . . . that offers psychological counseling in criminal cases involving graphic evidence;” (5) a veterans treatment court program; and (6) a county-approved veterans services office.

 One study considered how this offer to donate, specifically to the Texas Crime Victims Compensation Fund, prior to jury selection affected jury decision-making. (Aimone, North, & Rentschler, Priming the Jury by Asking for Donations). Jurors could be primed to find a guilty verdict by being more sympathetic to victims and feeling financially tied to crime victims. After noticing an increase in guilty verdicts after the law was passed, the study conducted a controlled experiment to test the change of conviction rates when jurors were first presented with a donation form. The controlled study found that the donation did affect jurors, finding that male jurors found a “guilty” verdict more often after receiving the form, while female jurors voted “not guilty” more often. The study provides, at least, causal evidence that these donation cards may affect how juror’s deliberate when provided before reporting for jury selection.

 Additionally, there have been concerns of the intended scope of the law where left to county discretion. In Waco, Texas, the county seat of McLennan County, commissioners questioned whether the county’s list of charitable organizations violated the law. Since 2010, almost $50,000 was donated by jurors to Fuzzy Friends Rescue, a pet adoption organization. According to McLennan County District Clerk Karen Matkin, juror pay is funded largely by reimbursements from the state, with a portion coming from “special fees and a tax.” At least a portion of county commissioners across Texas interpreted Section 61.003(a)(4) to act as a catch-all for any charitable cause approved by the county commissioners court, rather than a requirement that the organizations be connected to victims or the criminal justice system.

 This raises the question of whether the list of donations could bias jurors through a financial connection to a group, fund, or cause before ever being seated. Though jury pay is minimal, the Aimone article seems to point to the potential for bias. With the amended law, if counties are able to include other charitable causes, how could this unknowingly, and unintentionally, bias jurors?

 The Texas Legislature seemed to address this concern, while still preserving the goodwill intended by the law. In the 87th Regular Session, the legislature passed SB 1179, which modified Section 61.003 to provide that donation forms are given to jurors after jury service has concluded. The change went into effect September 1, 2021.