Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 10/2/17: Delinquent Jurors

MA claims to have the most comprehensive anti-juror delinquency program in the U.S., having established the Delinquent Juror Prosecution Program (DJPP) in 1996 to address issues with non-representative juries. Jurors who fail to appear are sent a Failure to Appear mailing; if not resolved they are sent a Notice of Delinquency. Further failure to resolve the delinquency leads to an Application for Criminal Complaint, under which the juror is summoned for a show cause hearing. Thereafter, a bench warrant will be issued. Jurors may be fined up to $2000 and sentenced to community service. The program has reduced juror delinquency rates by more than half since it was instituted. Nationally there is approximately a 20% juror delinquency rate, although the figure ranges widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

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