It’s juror appreciation month across the state and, while many counties find ways to honor local citizens for their contributions, Snohomish County has extra reason to celebrate. We have a 95 percent response rate to summons — one of the highest in the state.
If word gets out, judges across the country might be checking out our county to find out what the secret is. According to an Associated Press article last August, many judges were setting up scofflaw courts last summer to punish no-shows with fines of any where from $25 to $250, community service sentences and even jail time. Experts were lamenting people’s disconnect to their communities and growing lack of interest in fulfilling their civic duty.
That doesn’t appear to be the case in this county. Officials draw some 80,000 people from lists of registered voters and licensed drivers to compose a master jury list. From there, they pick about 1,000 people a week to receive summonses. Last year, 42,928 people were summoned to appear. Of that number, 9,613 postponed service, 13,809 were excused, 8,878 summonses were returned as undeliverable and 8,622 reported for duty. A total of 1,982 didn’t respond at all.
Not bad for a job that only pays $10 a day plus mileage. For some jurors, service can be a real financial hardship if they’re self-employed or their company doesn’t pay them for jury service. Lawyers and judges, including Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, have been trying to raise the pay for jurors — which has been the same since the 1950s! — but they were overruled by the Legislature. Given the nature of our state’s budget woes right now, we shouldn’t expect much change. As important as jury reform is, it’s unlikely to weigh in above health care concerns and transportation. But that shouldn’t stop future efforts. And it shouldn’t keep officials from looking at other creative ways to accommodate jurors, something Snohomish County deserves to be commended for already.
County officials have been looking at ways to make jury service more convenient by expanding nearby parking and amending a juror’s term of service to one week or one trial. Snohomish County Superior Court has even come up with a guide to help jurors find places to eat lunch. Well, for $10 a day, you can at least get a pretty decent lunch in downtown Everett.
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