The Cost of Jury Service: "Wait, I have to pay for parking too?"

You get a ten-dollar raise! 

        For thirty years, federal jurors were compensated forty-dollars per day served. After complaints about juror pay equating to a salary below the federal minimum wage, lawmakers decided to give a pay raise in 2018. A pay raise of...wait for it...ten dollars. Lawmakers explained that "while juror compensation was never meant to serve as a substitute for a salary, raising the daily rate would provide some small relief." Ironically, trial by jury is one of the most cherished pillars of our criminal justice system. Yet, we neglect our responsibility in ensuring that those who participate in jury service are not financially burdened. 

    Elliott Negin calls attention to this issue by noting that we recognize jurors are underpaid. Yet, juror raises do not account for inflation or have increased as drastically as Congress's salary. Negin notes that "if Congress paid grand jurors 80 percent more than what it paid them in 1990, grand jurors would get $72 a day for the first 45 days and $90 a day thereafter." 

Wait, I have to pay for parking too?

        Unfortunately, in the great state of Texas, juror pay ranges from six dollars to fifty dollars a day. It's also not uncommon to be required to pay for parking. In my experience, Dallas county parking starts at ten dollars a day, so theoretically, if I were to serve for a day and get paid six dollars, I'm already at a negative value. 

        Unfortunately, this is something that thousands of citizens experience daily. The fact remains that jury duty can be a substantial financial burden. Those unemployed are unable to spend their time looking for a job; caretakers of children are forced to find and likely pay for daycare/transportation; those surviving paycheck to paycheck literally do not get a livable wage. The list is endless. 

What do we do?

        While I do agree in some respect that juror compensation is not intended to be a substitute for salary, we cannot expect citizens to value jury service if it places a tremendous financial burden. Even more concerning is the impact this has on actual executions of trial. Trial consultant Douglas L. Keene recognizes that angry or irritated jurors adversely affect plaintiffs' lawyers in civil suits because the plaintiffs are "more likely to be blamed by the jurors for any inconvenience that jury duty caused them." 

        So what do we do? We can start by recognizing that jury duty often imposes a financial burden on citizens, especially in marginalized communities. We can then follow in the footsteps of San Francisco and create new systems where we make accommodations for those in most need. San Francisco is implementing a pilot program, "Be the jury," which compensates low-income jurors a hundred dollars per day of service. To qualify, you must earn less than $76,000 a year and must not be compensated by your employer for jury duty. This program also aims to remediate the issue of lack of diversity in jury composition since studies show that diverse juries make better decisions.