A project to boost the efficiency of Indiana's jury service will go online in January, allowing court administrators to reach a wider cross-section of society and avoid sending jury summons to the wrong addresses.
Currently, nearly half of the addresses used to call Hoosiers to jury duty are incorrect - a situation that wastes taxpayer dollars when jury summonses are mailed to outdated addresses.
But the new database that's being culled from taxpayers, driver's license and state ID holders will help the state's court system save money and be more inclusive, said Lake Superior Court Judge John J. Pera.
Pera, who was chairman of the Jury Pool Project initiated by the Indiana Supreme Court, said the judiciary wants to obtain a "good cross section" of society for jury pools.
"You don't want to systematically exclude anyone - it's not what we stand for or what the public expects. We don't want to do it inadvertently, either," he said.
In his annual state of the judiciary speech the General Assembly in January, Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard said the state must protect citizens' right to trial by jury by drawing jurors from the widest possible pool.
To purge voter registration rolls in 2004, the state election board sent out cards to all registered voters asking them to update the information.
Allen Superior Court Jury Administrator Lynn Murphy said at the beginning of the year she begins sending out questionnaires for jury service in groups of 2,000. In order to be summoned as a juror, the questionnaire must have been completed, returned to the court and classified as a person who meets the requirements to serve as a juror, she said.
In a conservative estimate, Murphy said 10 percent or more of the 2,000 questionnaires are returned in the mail because of wrong address information.
Murphy said jury administrators from around the state have been working toward establishing a system to provide up-to-date information but she was not aware of the new database that is to go online in January.
"Anything that would give me more accurate information would be helpful," Murphy said. "The information is only as good as what is given to us."
Pera said the theory that using tax rolls, and license and ID holders covered more accurately the population of those 18 and older had to be tested. According to 2000 census data, 354,000 adults lived in Lake County, but he said the new database found 2,000 fewer.
No longer relying on voter information is a step in the right direction for jury service in Indiana, which is one of the most progressive states in that area, Pera said.
In the past few years, new state laws mean jurors serve for only one trial, may take notes, ask witnesses questions and discuss the case among themselves before deliberations.
Pera said he has heard stories of people who refused to register to vote because they did not want to serve on a jury.
"I've been summoned and I'm going," he said. "Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan served in 1995. None of us are immune and we're not asking you to do anything we're not willing to do ourselves."
Sara Eaton of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.
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