Topline:
Currently, a juror in California gets paid $15 a day for serving in a trial. But a bill wants to up that to $100.
Why it matters: Critics say the low jury pay is having a knock-on effect on our criminal justice system.
"We had been hearing from all of our justice partners that juries were trending towards being full of people of means and white people predominantly," says Anne Stuhldreher, who runs The Financial Justice Project at the city and county of San Francisco.
What's next: The bill, AB 881, just passed the Assembly, and is headed to the Senate.
Let's face it, $15 doesn't go far in a city as pricey as Los Angeles.
Currently, that's the daily stipend a juror in California is paid for serving in a trial. And critics say, low jury pay is having a negative impact on the criminal justice system.
"We had been hearing from all of our justice partners that juries were trending towards being full of people of means and white people predominantly," says Anne Stuhldreher, who runs The Financial Justice Project at the city and county of San Francisco.
Stuhldreher also oversees a pilot program called "Be The Jury," which started in the Bay Area in 2022.
"We really wanted to test out if by providing $100 a day instead of $15 a day — would that move the needle so that our juries were more economically and racially diverse, and therefore better able to administer justice in a very diverse city like San Francisco," she says.
The program is serving as a model for a bill currently going through the state Legislature. AB 881, sponsored by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco). If it passes, similar pilot programs will be established in five counties, including Los Angeles County.
Under AB 881, a juror's household income must be less than 80% of the median income in their area to qualify for the $100 daily stipend. Plus, one of the following criteria:
- Juror is not compensated for jury duty by their employer.
- Juror is self-employed or unemployed.
The bill has recently passed the Assembly and is heading to the Senate.
