Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas

The Charlotte Observer
August 2, 2010

Mecklenburg court officials realize there are few die-hard fans of jury duty, so they're trying to make it easier on the thousands who are called to serve every month.

The court makes an effort to not interrupt jurors' lives too much. There's a business center, so you can catch up on work, and a day care center, where you can drop off the kids.

Court officials know there can be a lot of waiting - sometimes for a call that never comes - so the juror assembly room in the uptown courthouse has free Wi-Fi and even a place where mothers can pump breast milk. There's a 90-minute lunch break and two movies are shown. The courthouse supplies free popcorn.

And if those enticements don't work, there's always the threat of being called before a judge to explain why, exactly, you didn't show up.

Last week was more carrot than stick, as the 26th Judicial District of North Carolina (Mecklenburg) held a juror appreciation week, complete with discounts for jurors at restaurants near the courthouse, a jazz ensemble and a celebrity speaker.

The district has done Juror Appreciation Week every year for the last decade "to applaud the jurors who support the justice system," according to a news release.

"Our philosophy has long been that we realize that jury service is not something that everyone looks forward to so we have over the years tried to put into place some amenities, some programs, some services to make the experience more pleasant, more efficient and more convenient," said Charles Keller, community access and outreach administrator for the 26th District.

Every month, as many as 8,000 people's names are selected from motor vehicle and voter registration records.

So far this year in Mecklenburg County only about 6,000 have actually sat on a jury - others were either not selected for a trial or disqualified in court by defense attorneys or prosecutors.