Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Criminal defendants have the right to be tried by a jury of their peers, but that can be difficult for low-income defendants whose counterparts can’t afford to serve on jurors’ $15-a-day wages. So San Francisco has a pilot program increasing some jurors’ pay to $100 a day, and the lawmaker who sponsored the program is now proposing to expand it statewide.
“No person should be dissuaded from serving on a jury just because of financial hardship,” said Assembly Member Phil Ting, D-San Francisco. “We ask every American to be part of a fair and equitable justice system, and we should figure out how to provide compensation to them so they can do their civic duty.”