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Making jury duty less cumbersome
Ongoing changes to the jury selection process at the Elmore County Courthouse are seeking to streamline the selection process while making it less cumbersome for local residents.
While this type of civic duty has existed in one form or another for roughly a thousand years, it doesn't need to be antiquated or a miserable process for those selected, said county jury commissioner Tyler Tindall.
"In Elmore County, we're helping to bring this process into the 21st century," said Tindall, who added that county officials do what they can to mitigate the negative impact jury service can have on a person's life.
At the same time, ongoing changes to this system are expected to help cut costs to local taxpayers. Once everything is brought online, Tindall estimates these changes will cut jury-related costs by 30 percent.
"In the past two years, we have operated with juror convenience in mind using both creative technological methods and old fashioned number crunching with even more improvements planned for the future," Tindall said. "The court really does appreciate when people are so willing to serve, so making service quicker and easier for jurors is the least we can do."
Jury service starts when people receive the summons and qualification form. This was something that Tindall emphasized was usually accompanied by feelings of frustration and dread which is something they wanted to simplify.
"We wanted to make first contact with the jury system as painless as possible, so we re-did the form and summons to make it easier to read and give clearer direction to jurors," Tindall said. "For example, if a juror wants a postponement or if they request to be disqualified, the form elicits the required documentation in order to be postponed or excused."
Meanwhile, a trial calendar is posted on the Elmore County website that shows the dates that a juror could be called in. This is a huge help to jurors with appointments scheduled throughout the month and to jurors whose employment schedule can be unpredictable, Tindall said.
A notification system also helps remind potential jurors of their upcoming duties.
"Since the summons are mailed two months before a term of service begins, some jurors may forget that they have impending jury service," Tindall said. "In response to this, postcard reminders are now mailed to all qualified jurors two weeks before a term of service begins."
After a juror has served on a trial and rendered a verdict, they are given an anonymous exit questionnaire at the end of their service.
"These questionnaires give us further direction on how to improve our system and give us an idea of how we are doing," Tindall said.
The results of those surveys indicate that jurors appreciate what the county does to make the experience smoother. Nearly 80 percent of jurors who began their term of service with a negative or neutral outlook on serving complete it with a positive outlook, he added.
"We understand that nobody plans on receiving a jury summons in the mail, and often times a person will already have commitments arranged for their summoned term of service," Tindall said.
At the same time, the jury commissioner said it's difficult for people to plan ahead when they don't know when they could potentially be called in to court for their one month of service.
"We have taken a number of steps to make jury service easier for jurors, both to help keep prospective jurors up to date on their instructions and to make it easier for jurors to plan accordingly," Tindall said. "We have started e-mailing jurors, giving them advanced notice of a trial so they aren't completely blindsided by instructions telling them to appear the next day."
At the same time, the county courthouse started sending text message instructions to jurors -- the first county in Idaho to do so, he said.
"Messages are sent straight to a prospective juror's cell phone the night before the trial, telling them what time to report for jury duty," Tindall added.
With these text reminders, he said juror attendance has been excellent. One trial alone had a juror attendance of 100 percent.
As a result, the courthouse can summon fewer jurors to court to serve. This not only inconveniences fewer people but also cuts on trial costs.
"The feedback from the jurors who opt-in for the messages has been universally positive," Tindall said. "It gives jurors peace of mind if they forget to check-in on the phone line or website."
Other improvements help those who run into other problems. For example, a blank qualification form is now on the Elmore County website, so if a juror has lost their form or if they are out of town, they can print off the form and complete it without any hassle.
Looking to the near future, Tindall said other changes under consideration could reduce the impact jury duty has on local residents. Among them is a move to a system known as Odyssey.
A cutting edge system being introduced statewide, it's expected to further streamline the juror processes. At the same time, the courthouse is weighing plans to pay for juror's transportation to the courthouse.
"Not all people have cars or drive, so providing that service to people would be really helpful to make serving less stressful," Tindall said.
These electronic innovations will help the courthouse rely less on more traditional methods such as mailing information to jurors.
"Envelopes often get lost in the mail, and it is slower than electronic means," Tindall said.
By taking advantage of electronic messages and online resources, the courthouse can cut costs in the juror summons process by nearly half, he added.