Statewide Juror Summons Demographic Survey Project

Executive Summary

During the 2020-2021 Legislative Session, legislators passed ESSB 5092, Section 115, Section 3, which required the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts to provide: “all courts with an electronic demographic survey for jurors who begin a jury term.” The aim was to collect data on each juror's race, ethnicity, age, sex, employment status, educational attainment, and income, as well as any other data approved by order of the Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. The central question is whether summoned jurors are representative of the counties from which they are selected. The makeup and representativeness of jury summons respondents and eventually impaneled juries pertains to the trial provisions of the Sixth Amendment and to the perceived legitimacy and fairness of and confidence in our courts.

While there have been prior versions of this survey over the last six years, this is the largest and most comprehensive research effort to date. Although there is ongoing data collection across the state of Washington, this interim report only presents findings from analysis of data from the electronic juror surveys in Clark, King, Pierce, and Spokane Counties’ Superior Courts.

This Executive Summary provides highlights drawn from the two data analysis sections of this report. Data were collected electronically, over a roughly 9-month period in 2022. Each county had a different start and interim-end date for data collection, as the survey was embedded in each county’s online juror registration webpage, requiring a tailored onboarding process. All data represent only those people who responded to their summons by registering for jury duty online and who also opted into the survey. Therefore, it does not include those who: did not receive their summons in the mail, ignored their summons, declined to participate in the survey, and/or responded to their summons through different modalities, such as in-person, over the telephone, or via postal mail.

The first section covers key findings from across all four counties. Descriptive analyses are included for each of the survey questions. For all race and ethnicity questions, U.S. Census Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) data from the American Community Survey are used as baseline comparison figures. Additional federal, state, and private sources of data are used as baseline comparisons for additional demographic measures.

The second section provides more detailed findings for Pierce County alone, as they were able to track juror progress from summons through seating, as well as completion of a trial or jury service term. In summary, there are four unique stages of analysis for Pierce County: Stage 1) online check-in; Stage 2) those who report in person to the courthouse; Stage 3) those are selected for voir dire (jury selection process); and Stage 4) those who are assigned to a case as a sworn or alternate juror. Because Pierce County has this technical capability, we can observe changes, for example, in the proportion of Black or White jurors through all the stages described above.