Washington State Jury Commission

Appendix 10: Judicial Views of Jury Reform Executive Summary

JUDICIAL VIEWS OF JURY REFORM
IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

A Report to the Office of the Administrator for the Courts

Prepared by:

David C. Brody
Washington State University, Spokane

Nicholas P. Lovrich
Washington State University

Charles H. Sheldon
Washington State University

John Neiswinder
Washington State University

Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice Program
Division of Governmental Studies & Services
Washington State University
PO Box 644870
Pullman, WA 99164-4870
Phone: (509) 335-3329
Fax (509) 335-2362

Over the last decade, states around the nation have either implemented or explored various reforms to their jury systems. One aspect of the court system that must be considered in an examination of a state's jury system is the state's judiciary. This study reports the results of surveys administered to the Superior Court, District Court, and Municipal Court judges in the State of Washington regarding a number of possible reforms to the jury system.

The results indicate that the judges believe that the system is working well, but can be improved. A majority of judges believe the following items would improve the workings of the criminal justice system:

Providing written copies of jury instructions to jurors for use in deliberations

Permitting note taking by jurors.

Allowing jurors to ask questions of witnesses through the trial judge.

Instructing jurors on the law several times during the course of a trial.

Increasing the pay of jurors.

Providing child care for jurors.

Having court staff make phone calls to jurors the day before they are scheduled to report for jury duty.

Issuing citations to citizens who fail to report to jury service on more than two occasions.

Two items that the judges were strongly opposed to deserve special mention. A vast majority of judges were opposed to the elimination of peremptory challenges and the use of non-unanimous verdicts in criminal trials.

The judges appeared to have given a great deal of consideration to the survey. Their responses indicate that they favor minor changes to the jury system, but in all, they believe the system is working well.