Massachusetts juries are disproportionately White, and this has had major implications and negative consequences for achieving racially just outcomes in criminal courts. This working group is tasked with identifying inequities in the jury selection system that allow for the emergence and maintenance of racially disparate outcomes in the Commonwealth and then proposing a set of strategies by which these might be addressed.
Research and Commentary Resulting from Roundtable Work
Inequitable and Undemocratic: A Research Brief on Jury Exclusion in Massachusetts and a Multipronged Approach to Dismantle It. Roundtable on Racial Disparities in Massachusetts Criminal Courts Research Brief, June 2023.
- Research Brief
- Executive Summary
- Appendix A: Jury Exclusion of People with Felony Convictions by State
- Appendix B: Defining “In the Custody of a Correctional Institution”
Geraldine S. Hines, Sandra Susan Smith, and Nina Chernoff, "What happens when jurors are disproportionately white? Not justice." The Boston Globe, April 12, 2022.