County’s New Grand Jury

The Orange County Grand Jury that starts studying government in July will be far more diverse than this year’s panel, and perhaps the most diverse ever. That will benefit the county.

Of the 19 members, 11 are white, three Latino, two Native American, two Asian and one African-American. Five are women.

All grand jurors deserve thanks, since they serve for a year of four- and five-day weeks for the meager reimbursement of $25. All are volunteers.

This year’s panel has been all-white, an unfortunate reflection of a lack of minority applicants. The final panelists and 11 alternates are chosen by lottery from those who have applied.

A justifiable outcry about the composition of the current jury led the chairman of the grand jury recruitment, Superior Court Judge C. Robert Jameson, to start searching for potential grand jurors. Jameson rightly termed it “unconscionable” that a county where 30% of the residents are Latino had no Latino grand jurors. The Asian population is 13%, yet Asians, too, were not represented.

Jameson and other court officials dispatched nearly 1,700 applications and information packages to more than 1,000 companies and community groups. Judges appeared on cable television programs and Vietnamese and Spanish-language radio shows. They visited community organizations and city councils, urging members to nominate panelists.

When the applications arrived, 137 were from whites, and about another three dozen from members of minority groups. Those selected must withstand a final round of individual interviews with judges. Activists had wondered if judges were looking for a “typical Latino” in the past, but said this time the process worked well.

One common aspect of the current grand jury and next year’s is the average age: 64. That reflects the pay, in most cases too low for those who haven’t yet retired.

The primary job of the grand jury is to provide oversight of government agencies. Panels have done good work in examining water districts, foster care, the county jails and transportation needs.

Some of those topics can affect members of different communities in different ways, one reason it is important to have a grand jury representative of all communities in the county.

The challenge now will be to ensure that future grand juries are also diverse.