FAIRNESS & JUSTICE
For fairer and higher-quality juries, diversify the juror pool, new research finds
HKS Professor Sandra Susan Smith created the Roundtable on Racial Disparities in Massachusetts Criminal Courts to help address longstanding racial inequities in Massachusetts’ court system. Smith, director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, also is faculty director of the School’s Program in Criminal Justice and Management. Members of the Roundtable’s jury selection working group issued a research brief on the impact of jury exclusion in the state and how it could be dismantled. Smith spoke recently about the analysis and findings. Being excluded from a jury can be based on a felony record or having a loved one who has been arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of a crime; the research brief proposes a set of equitable reforms to reduce discrimination against people with criminal legal system contact in the jury selection process. |