If California Courts want us to support them… Perhaps they should support us!

Dear California Legislature & Judicial Branch,

I am writing to bring to your attention what i believe is a serious flaw in our laws relating to Jury Service in California.  It is my hope that you can look into this and sponsor changes to repair these flaws.

I am the father of 2 wonderful children.  A 6 year old girl who attends afternoon kindergarden in Redondo Beach and an 11 year old son who is in the 5th grade in the same school.  I am also fortunate enough to be able to provide for my family in a manner that allows my wife to stay home and raise our children.

I am also a strong believer in our system of government and the jury system by which we live.   I have been called regularly to serve over the past decade and have been empaneled several times.  I am fortunate that my employer compensates me for my time serving on a jury so it doesn’t cause financial hardship to my family.

My wife was just summoned to jury service at the California Superior Court in Torrance.  Since she is the sole caregiver of our two children.  She applied for an exemption from this round of service because my 6 year old daughter attends class from 11:30am till 2:30pm and the children are too young to be at home unsupervised.

We were both surprised when her petition was denied.  

We contacted the administrator of the jury pool in Torrance, she was told that if you have children over 5 years of age, you are not eligible for an exemption under state law.  The court had no concern for our problem and simply told us to figure it out.

I understand that most citizens look for any way possible to avoid their civic responsibility.  I appreciate that you implemented the “One Day, One Trial” system to reduce the amount of wasted time and productivity that comes from keeping a jury room full of people sitting around for a week.  I’m OK with the juror pool being drawn from the DMV rolls.  But I am appalled that the State of California does not recognize the hardship it causes working families by forcing the caregiver parent of a family with young, school age children to have to find child care for jury service.

The Federal Courts in California have rules that have taken into account the issue of family hardship in jury service.  For example:

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has a rule concerning individual requests for excuse or deferment from jury duty. This rule (General Order Number 99-8, Random Selection of Grand and Petit Jurors; 2.(c) “Individual Request for Excuse or Deferment” (Oct. 1, 1999)) provides an excuse for “Persons having active care and custody of a child or children under 14 years of age whose health and/or safety would be jeopardized by their absence for jury service; or a person who is essential to the care of an aged or infirm person”

And The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, provides an excuse for:

“2) Any person having active care and custody of a child or children under 10 years of age whose health and/or safety would be jeopardized by absence of such person for jury service; or a person who is essential to the care of aged or infirm persons” in the Civil Local Rules; Civil 83.10 Jury Selection Plan; e. Qualified Jury Wheel; 2 Excuses on Individual Request.

I am fortunate to be able to provide some vacation time so my wife can fulfill her civic duty.  But why does it become again My Civic Responsibility, having already served on a jury a few months ago to take time away from my job, this time fully at my own expense for someone else’s service ?  

And what about someone who isn’t as fortunate as I am ?  Is it fair to ask that they go and pay a caregiver so that one can work while the other serves ? Does the state believe the $15 per day after the first day of service will be enough to cover those costs without causing financial hardship to some ?

I urge you to use your legislative clout to address this issue and change the minimum age applied to the juror exemption for child care from 5 years to 13 years of age.  At 5, a child is still totally dependent on his or her parents.  You can’t send a Kindergardener off to school by themselves and not every family has a Grandparent or an older sibling available to help out.  13 is an age where a parent can safely leave their children to care for themselves after school till someone gets home from work or the civic obligations. 

I would love to know your opinions on this matter.

Thanks for your attention.

Sincerely,

Jeffro341

 

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