Most of you have experienced the dreaded event where you walk out to the mailbox and open up the letter that says “Greetings, you have been selected to serve on jury duty.” Most will agree that the word “selected” is a bit misleading. The summons should say, “Greetings, you must be on jury duty….do not make us come get you.” For whatever reason, jury duty is just not something that most people look forward to. Despite what we may think about the process, jury duty is a civic duty that we must participate in for the system to work. The jury system is literally what keeps the system from totally breaking down. But, as our demographic make-up changes, so does the jury pool.

During a recent jury section process, I realized just how “changed” the pool is from just a short time ago. Sitting on just one row of potential jurors were local citizens from every different backgrounds. There were two from Hispanic descent, one from Asian descent, two African Americans, and four Caucasians. In the entire pool you could have counted the folks who were native to the local area on one hand. As the old saying goes, “My, the winds of change are a blowing.” And with this change, it is not just a wind gust, but a powerful storm.

What effect these changes will have on our legal system remains to be seen. But, there is no doubt that there will be change. A case in point is that once someone becomes a citizen of our country, they can potentially be placed in the pool of names from which jurors are drawn. Difficulties can occur based on the language barriers that are sometimes present. Legal terminology is difficult to understand to those who are native to the English language. Imagine having to decipher those words, which are not really English at all, if you are not even comfortable with conversational English. Furthermore, the judicial system is based on generational evolution that is, at least, fairly familiar to those who are generational to this country. But, for those persons who are first generation to the American system, it is difficult to have a foundation to draw from when it comes to our legal system. In fact, it is probably more realistic that these people will draw from thei r native culture as to how their prior country’s legal system operated. These potential for problems has nothing to do with the willingness of these new citizens to serve but is more reflective of what it means to serve. Without some orientation or acclimation to our system, certain guarantees or procedures that are perceived to be a given will become less black and white and more of a very clear shade of gray. Gray is a dangerous color when it comes to our Constitutional Rights.

And while we may have those who are not exactly trusting of our legal or criminal justice system, some of our new citizens come from countries where those systems are uniformly unacceptable. Being suspicious of our system is one thing, but you cannot compare our system to other parts of the world where the evidence is crystal clear across the board, as to the level of corruption and mistrust from the public that exists. In these cases, we must be positive that those perceived notions do not have a place as to their perception of this system. All of these issues are problems that are correctable, but without proper attention could cause a failure of epidemic proportion to our legal system.

Jury pools are much like any other receptacles that are in place for retention purposes. While the retention takes place in one location, the resources come from many areas. But like any healthy pool of retention if proper filters, guards and regular maintenance, does not occur, the pool will be unfit for public usage. More important, our system could literally drown in the murk of its own waters. Let’s be sure that the sign at our jury pool continues to say, “Come on in, the waters fine!”