Governor Murphy backs jury service for those with felony convictions

Gov. Phil Murphy said he supports ending New Jersey's prohibition on jury service for those with felony convictions, which is among the strictest in the nation. Legislation now in the Statehouse would do that, excluding people with convictions for murder or aggravated sexual assault. (Getty Images)

Gov. Phil Murphy announced his support Wednesday for legislation that would restore jury service rights to New Jerseyans with felony convictions.

The bill would allow New Jerseyans convicted of nearly all indictable offenses — what New Jersey calls felonies — to serve on juries, a change that would add more than half-million residents to the state’s jury pool, Murphy said at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice’s annual gala at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

“These individuals, who are being denied the right to perform a fundamental civic duty, are predominantly Black and Latino. And all of us are being denied the opportunity to be judged by a jury of our peers,” the governor said. “Let me be clear: That is not justice. It is wrong — plain and simple.”

Like all American states, New Jersey bars jury service for those convicted of serious crimes, but its prohibitions are among the nation’s strictest. Under current law, a conviction on any indictable offense prevents a person from sitting on a jury.

Under the bill, people convicted of murder or aggravated sexual assault and incarcerated people would remain barred from jury service.

“This is not just about ending an injustice that continues to plague our formerly incarcerated neighbors,” Murphy said. “This is also about defending the integrity of our democracy, our criminal justice system, and the rule of law.”

The bill has not advanced since it was introduced in both chambers at the start of the legislative session in early January. In the prior legislative session, it won Assembly approval despite concerns about its carveouts for people with murder and aggravated sexual assault convictions, but it did not reach a Senate committee.

Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer), the bill’s prime Assembly sponsor, said she’d taken up the longstanding reform after a constituent who sought help filling jury duty paperwork found he was barred from serving because of a prior conviction.

“He was like ‘I’ve already served my time. I don’t understand why I’m not able to participate,'” Reynolds-Jackson said. “It just became like that collateral consequence that keeps on marginalizing them, and it’s just not fair.”

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