It’s not easy managing Liberty County’s jury pool.
And according to Liberty County Clerk of Courts Barry Wilkes, who organizes the county’s jury list, the changing racial make-up of the county is creating a new set of challenges for his office.
During a recent Hinesville Rotary Club meeting, Wilkes said the unexpected growth of the county’s Hispanic population has put new strains on his office’s ability to create a list of potential jurors that matches the county’s demographics.
“In less than five years, we went from having a Hispanic/Latino population of somewhere around 2 percent,” he said. “It’s escalated in five years to 7.5 percent.”
Now as “a cognizable or recognizable group,” Wilkes explained the jury pool is required by law to reflect the emerging Hispanic population, but it has been difficult locating willing and eligible participants.
“We can’t find those Hispanics and get them to volunteer to serve their names to us for jury service,” he said. “They do not consider themselves residents or they say that they cannot speak and understand the English language. Therefore, they exclude themselves automatically from jury service.”
While also noting deficiencies in the number of black men in the jury pool, however, Wilkes said problems with the jury list extend into the male/female breakdown of the county.
Based on data from the 2000 U.S. Census, males represent 60 percent of Liberty County’s population, but 30 percent do not consider the county as their home of record. As a result, that decreases the number of males qualified for jury duty.
“But under the unified appeal procedure that applies to death penalty cases, we have to keep the jury list so that there is no greater than 5 percent disparity in the statistical number in the jury pool as it is reported in the census,” Wilkes said. “If we have 60 percent males reported on the census then we cannot have any greater than 65 percent males in the jury pool, nor less than 55 percent.”
With a current list of about 20,000 potential jurors, Wilkes said his office continues to work toward diversifying and adding to the jury pool each week.
And according to Liberty County Clerk of Courts Barry Wilkes, who organizes the county’s jury list, the changing racial make-up of the county is creating a new set of challenges for his office.
During a recent Hinesville Rotary Club meeting, Wilkes said the unexpected growth of the county’s Hispanic population has put new strains on his office’s ability to create a list of potential jurors that matches the county’s demographics.
“In less than five years, we went from having a Hispanic/Latino population of somewhere around 2 percent,” he said. “It’s escalated in five years to 7.5 percent.”
Now as “a cognizable or recognizable group,” Wilkes explained the jury pool is required by law to reflect the emerging Hispanic population, but it has been difficult locating willing and eligible participants.
“We can’t find those Hispanics and get them to volunteer to serve their names to us for jury service,” he said. “They do not consider themselves residents or they say that they cannot speak and understand the English language. Therefore, they exclude themselves automatically from jury service.”
While also noting deficiencies in the number of black men in the jury pool, however, Wilkes said problems with the jury list extend into the male/female breakdown of the county.
Based on data from the 2000 U.S. Census, males represent 60 percent of Liberty County’s population, but 30 percent do not consider the county as their home of record. As a result, that decreases the number of males qualified for jury duty.
“But under the unified appeal procedure that applies to death penalty cases, we have to keep the jury list so that there is no greater than 5 percent disparity in the statistical number in the jury pool as it is reported in the census,” Wilkes said. “If we have 60 percent males reported on the census then we cannot have any greater than 65 percent males in the jury pool, nor less than 55 percent.”
With a current list of about 20,000 potential jurors, Wilkes said his office continues to work toward diversifying and adding to the jury pool each week.