Do Juries Adequately Represent the Community? A Case Study of Civil Juries in Victoria

It is sometimes argued that juries do not represent an adequate cross-section of the community. They are selected from those who can serve rather than those who should serve. Numerous exemptions, exclusions and challenges available under the jury system are thought to interfere so much with the random selection process that the chosen jury becomes unrepresentative of the community. A recent survey of Victorian civil jurors has enabled the authors to test this criticism empirically. The study showed that juries are a fair cross-section of the community in terms of gender and age. Jurors from non English-speaking backgrounds are marginally under-represented while university educated citizens are over-represented on civil juries. Possible explanations and interpretations for these findings are offered.