Local court officials are working to get more African Americans in the jury box.
Judicial leaders say nearly 19% of the qualification questionnaires sent out in urban communities - for citizens to serve as potential jurors - are non-deliverable or not responded to. City Court Judge Theresa Johnson is co-chairing a task force to tackle that problem. She says minority representation in the judicial system is important.
"That's what we're trying to get, somebody in the room, in the jury room, [so] when the doors are closed to say 'OK, this is not important, that's not important or don't interpret that into something that's it’s not,'" Johnson says. "And if we can't get that our communities are never going to feel that they're getting a fair shake."
Court officials are asking citizens to volunteer their time by handing out those qualification questionnaires in their respective communities. And for them to visit city schools and local organizations to talk about the significance of blacks and Hispanics serving as jurors.
The local effort serves as a pilot program that the New York chief justice is looking to as a state model.