Results tagged “thecourt”

. . . not because it's necessarily a bad plan. Not long ago, Bostonist told you about an attempt by Judge Nancy Gertner of the Federal District Court of Massachusetts to change the way federal criminal juries are selected. She was concerned that blacks made up only three percent of the people in jury pools, although they constitute six percent of the population in the eastern counties of Massachusetts from which jurors are drawn, so she devised a way to increase the number of jurors from underrepresented ZIP codes (which tend to be largely minority). Bostonist liked the plan because it was race-neutral (i.e., it didn't affirmatively favor the selection of, say, black citizens) but would have the effect of correcting statistical underrepresentation on a geographic baisis, wherever it occurred (so if Wellesley and Weston weren't contributing their share of jurors, that would get fixed too). more ›