Despite all the jokes you hear about people doing just about anything to get out of jury duty, in my experience most people are willing and sometimes even eager to serve. The vast majority of those who come to the Justice Center in downtown Cleveland take their jury summonses seriously and want to do their very best. It’s a vitally important responsibility, and from what I’ve seen over the years, most jurors get a lot out of the experience and find it very meaningful.
In serving on a jury, you not only help preserve that right for the parties in the case before you, but for yourself as well, if you ever filed a lawsuit, were sued or were charged with a crime. I speak to all of my jurors after they’ve rendered a verdict, and always appreciate hearing their perspectives. Sometimes they even want to have their pictures taken with court staff and me!
The right to trial by jury dates back to Ancient Greece and later the Magna Carta of England. King George III’s denial of the right to trial by jury was one of the complaints set forth in the Declaration of Independence, when we established our own country 250 years ago. Nowadays, about 90% of all jury trials worldwide are right here in the United States. We’ve found that a group of fellow citizens who know little or nothing about a case before coming to court will more often come to a reasoned, just decision than any single judge or magistrate.
Since I was elected a judge in 2020, I’ve often heard from people who actually enjoy jury duty and would like to do it more often, as well as from people who would like to serve but have never been called, sometimes even decades after first registering to vote. I believe Ohio law should be changed to permit people to volunteer for jury duty. Any statute to that end should, I suggest, (1) limit people to serving as a juror once every two years, either by random draw or by volunteering, the same frequency as jurors here are now called; (2) require that jury commissioners specifically note in their records who has appeared as a volunteer; (3) require that the judge and lawyers in any trial be informed as to which of those in their venire panel is a volunteer, so they can inquire, if they wish, as to why someone volunteered (no one should be pressured to do so by a political or religious group, for instance); (4) provide that no prospective juror may be struck solely because he or she is a volunteer, and (5) require that volunteer jurors be paid the same stipend and in all other ways be treated as other jurors. California and New York already permit people to volunteer for jury service; I think Ohio should do the same.
I’ve been summonsed for jury duty four times over the years. Twice I never made it out of the waiting room; twice I made it into the courtroom but not into the jury box. Having worked with juries as a lawyer, magistrate and judge over the course of my career, I’d be very interested to see the process from the inside. I might never have that chance, but you just might, and I wish you all the best when you do.
Vodrey is a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He is on the ballot for the November 3 election. This essay reflects his own opinions and not those of the court.