Not-So-Grand Jury

Underrepresentation of minorities on the Los Angeles County Grand Jury, a serious problem for years, has taken a turn for the worse: There is no Latino or Asian American among the 23 members and four alternates of the current grand jury. Just six African Americans are on the panel. That doesn’t reflect a county where racial and ethnic minorities account for almost 60% of the population.

Clearly the county’s judges, who nominate jurors, have done a poor job in reaching out. Of the 428 judges in the county, only 20 offered nominations last year. Los Angeles County is hardly alone in this debacle; all 19 members of the Orange County Grand Jury are white.

California’s county judges each are asked to nominate two juror candidates, and any citizen may volunteer or may suggest others. The final grand jury is decided by a committee of Superior Court judges. The jury hears evidence on major crimes to decide whether the accused should be indicted, but its duties go well beyond that to include examinations of education, government operations and social services.

Several factors contribute to the problems with diversity and other difficulties in the system. For instance, whoever is chosen must essentially give up a year to jury service, at a paltry $25 a day. This skews the choices to retirees and public employees with relatively unlimited jury leave. Such issues are thorny, but there are ways to ease the system’s problems. Judges should exercise their responsibility to find new candidates. The field of prospects could be widened by civic-minded organizations in ethnic communities sending in names of potential jurors. A shorter period of service and a larger per diem payment should be considered.

Other counties have tried impaneling separate, shorter-term grand juries, chosen from the pool of regular trial jurors, for criminal cases. In largely white Orange County, judges have launched an aggressive recruiting campaign to get more minorities on the next grand jury.

Complacency is the enemy here. Grand jury service is too important a democratic duty to be determined by a lackadaisical system.