NCJ Number
175891
Date Published
1997
Length
23 pages
Annotation
As required by the relevant legislation, this report analyzes the impact of the partial elimination of mandatory jury sequestration on criminal cases in New York State.
Abstract
Section 209 of Chapter 83 of the Laws of 1995 (New York) authorizes a trial court presiding over a criminal jury trial to declare a temporary recess in deliberations and permit the jury to separate for a reasonable period of time before returning to court to resume deliberations. The exception is a trial that involves a Class A felony offense or a Class B or Class C violent felony offense. The data collected from courts throughout the State during the period the legislation has been in effect clearly shows that the experiment has been successful. The stated goals of achieving savings for the State, promoting jury service and improving jury experiences, as well as fostering more representative jury pools were met. The predicted negative impact -- more mistrials and increased costs -- did not occur. As the data indicate, allowing the court to permit deliberating juries to separate has realized significant fiscal savings of over $1.85 million during the life of the legislation. Approximately $1.4 million of the total is in the area of security, because of a reduction in overtime for the supervision of sequestered jurors by court officers and local law enforcement personnel. A reduction of $412,000 has been achieved for the lodging of sequestered jurors, together with a decrease of $35,000 for meal costs. The most significant impact has been on jurors who were relieved of the burdens of sequestration, i.e., separation from families and the forced sharing of overnight accommodations. Potential jurors who could not be sequestered for family and religious reasons are now able to serve on juries, thus enhancing the representativeness of juries. The report recommends that trial judges be afforded permanent statutory authority to separate deliberating juries in criminal trials, except for the trials specified in the legislation. Further, in criminal trials that involve a Class A felony or a Class B or Class C violent felony, with the exception of capital cases, trial judges should be afforded discretion to permit deliberating juries to separate, but on an experimental basis. Appended relevant legislation and a sample New York jury deliberation report