The difficulties associated with serving jury duty discourage potential jurors from serving. By lessening these difficulties, jury pools will be better representative of the whole, and a representative jury tends to beget more reasonable verdicts.
State Category Rating:
North Dakota Category Rating
D
*Category ratings are based solely on the factors below:
5 Factors
Has the state required everyone to serve by not exempting people based on their occupation?
Why does this matter?
When entire occupations are exempted from jury service, their perspectives aren't represented in juries and a jury of one's peers dilutes into a jury of the available few. Minimizing exemptions from serving jury duty increases diversity in the jury pool and often serves to temper outrageous lawsuit awards.
Is there a standard for excusals that facilitates representative juries by requiring all people to serve unless there is true hardship?
Why does this matter?
Most states allow a juror to skip duty if they can show hardship, whether financial or physical. Hardship can be widely interpreted. When hardship exemptions are given too frequently, the diversity of the jury pool is threatened and the reasonablity of lawsuit awards may suffer.
Are jurors easily able to reschedule jury service one-time?
Why does this matter?
Allowing potential jurors to reschedule jury service one time for any reason gives them flexibility and enables more people to serve. Maximizing jury diversity may help normalize lawsuit awards.
Is there a lengthy trial fund to reimburse jurors for lost income?
Why does this matter?
A small increase in the filing fee can generate enough funds to reimburse jurors who serve on long trials for their lost wages. This encourages small business owners and those who would not otherwise be paid while on jury duty to participate and therefore diversify the jury pool.
Citizens often try to avoid jury duty because it can be so time consuming. Under this system, jurors are only required to appear in court one time. If they aren't scheduled for a case, they may go home having served their duty. This removes another barrier to jury service.