Supreme Court project creates new jury database

A project to boost the efficiency of Indiana's jury service will go online in January, allowing court administrators to reach a wider cross-section of society and avoid sending jury summons to the wrong addresses.\nCurrently, nearly half of the addresses used to call Hoosiers to jury duty are incorrect -- a situation that wastes taxpayer dollars when jury summons are mailed to outdated addresses.\nBut the new database that's being culled from taxpayers, drivers license and state ID holders will help the state's court system save money and be more inclusive, said Lake Superior Court Judge John J. Pera.\nPera, who was chairman of the Jury Pool Project initiated by the Indiana Supreme Court, said the judiciary wants to obtain a "good cross section" of society for jury pools.\n"You don't want to systematically exclude anyone -- it's not what we stand for or what the public expects. We don't want to do it inadvertently, either," he said.\nIn his annual state of the judiciary speech to the General Assembly in January, Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard said the state must protect citizens' right to trial by jury by drawing jurors from the widest possible pool.\nTo purge voter registration rolls in 2004, the state election board sent out cards to all registered voters asking them to update the information.\nLake County Court Administrator Martin Goldman said that out of about 1,000 summons sent out each week to Lake County residents, about 40 percent were returned in the mail. At 21 cents a card, that means about $4,200 per year in Lake County alone is wasted sending out jury cards to inaccurate addresses.\nPera said the theory that using tax rolls, and license and ID holders covered more accurately the population of those 18 and older had to be tested. According to 2000 census data, 354,000 adults lived in Lake County, but he said the new database found 2,000 fewer.\nNo longer relying on voter information is a step in the right direction for jury service in Indiana, which is one of the most progressive states in that area, Pera said.\nIn the past few years, new state laws mean jurors serve for only one trial, may take notes, ask witnesses questions and discuss the case among themselves before deliberations.\nPera said he has heard stories of people who refused to register to vote because they did not want to serve on a jury.\n"I've been summoned and I'm going," he said. "Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan served in 1995. None of us are immune and we're not asking you to do anything we're not willing to do ourselves"