Nassau DA, others call for pay increase for jurors
Acting Nassau District Attorney Joyce Smith calls for an increase juror pay on Tuesday. Credit: Howard Schnapp
State and federal lawmakers should increase the pay of jurors to $15 per hour, or $120 daily, to promote economic and racial diversity and allow more low-income workers to sit on civil and criminal trials, Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith said Tuesday.
Currently, eligible New York jurors receive a stipend of $40 per day of service — amounting to $5 per hour — while federal jurors receive $50 per day, preventing many citizens from participating in the process, Smith said.
"We've made jury service unaffordable to those who won't be paid if they miss work," Smith said at a news conference in Mineola. "Some of our citizens cannot afford to miss the tips they will earn from the two or three part-time jobs that they hold. Some of our citizens that are self employed cannot afford to miss the hours that they would work in their businesses or their offices in order to come and serve as jurors."
New York’s $40 stipend, Smith said, is the equivalent of an annual salary of $10,400 — well below the federal poverty lines and less than half of the $27,300 that qualifies an individual as "extremely low income" according to federal housing guidelines.
"Our government is paying jurors less to decide to acquit or convict a person of murder then we allow our employers to pay their lowest wage earners," she said.
Smith, who has submitted proposed legislation to Albany lawmakers, would also require companies with 10 employees or more to pay their employees’ the $120 fees to reduce the burden on taxpayers. Employers who provide their staff with their regular compensation while they're on jury duty would not be eligible for the increased stipend.
"The right to a jury of ones peers is at the core of our justice system," said N. Scott Banks, attorney-in-chief of the Nassau County Legal Aid Society. "Inadequate compensation … imposes significant financial hardship and barriers for many who would serve on petit or grand juries here in Nassau County."
Data collected by the state shows that Blacks and Hispanics are proportionately underrepresented on juries in Nassau and Suffolk as compared to U.S. Census data. The court system does not collect data on the income levels of jurors who appear for jury duty or the nearly 20% of Long Island jurors who declined to fill out juror information cards.
"We know from research that more diverse juries reduce the likelihood of single-minded groupthink based on shared biases," Smith said. "We know that diverse juries reach more fair and higher quality decisions."
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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