Applicant Pool for Next Grand Jury More Diverse

By MEG JAMES

Feb. 11, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

More Latinos, Asian Americans and American Indians than in recent years have applied for the next Orange County Grand Jury, a panel that has been criticized in the past for being too white and too wrinkled.

Twenty percent of the 172 people who have asked to serve the yearlong term that begins July 1 are minorities. That includes 15 Latinos--three times the number that applied a year ago--nine Asians and six American Indians--a leap from the last few years, when one or two American Indians volunteered.

A Latino leader who has criticized the grand jury selection process as favoring white retirees and professionals, said Thursday that he is pleased with this year’s turnout.

“Those are good figures,” said Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County. “We’re very encouraged, because it seems that the word has reached [Latinos].”

Prospective grand jurors who remain interested will be interviewed during the next couple of months. Finalists will be selected in a May 17 drawing. Although it is still early in the process, court officials this week celebrated the more diverse pool.

A larger number of minority applicants is important, they said, because it increases the likelihood that some minorities will be picked.

“If you have more in the pool, then mathematics tells you that some should make it,” said Superior Court Judge C. Robert Jameson, who last fall became chairman of the county’s grand jury recruitment and selection process.

Currently, all 19 grand jurors, as well as the 11 alternates, are white. That is in sharp contrast to Orange County’s population, which is nearly 30% Latino and 13% Asian.

The lack of diversity prompted Orange County Superior Court officials to step up their recruitment campaign. They sent out nearly 1,700 applications and information packets to more than 1,000 companies and community groups. In addition, judges visited community organizations and council meetings in every city in the county. They went on Vietnamese radio programs and the Orange County cable news channel.

“We really worked hard at it,” Jameson said. “You do everything you can and hope that it clicks.”

David credited “a fresh approach and more visibility” by the judges and other court officials for the higher number of Latino applicants.

“It appears that there was a more diffused outreach,” he said. “Not only did they go to Los Amigos and other community centers, but they went to other places where Latinos go, like senior centers. Maybe that hit the spot.”

Still, Jameson would have liked more minorities to apply. “When you consider the amount of time and effort we put in, it still seems kind of meager,” the judge said.

In the past, grand juries focused on criminal indictments, but changes in the law have reshaped the group’s role. Now Orange County’s panel primarily serves as a county government watchdog, writing several reports each year that review various agencies.

It is impossible to say whether more minorities applied to the grand jury in the years before 1994, since court officials keep demographic records for only five years. However, Jameson said, this year’s turnout might be an all-time record since efforts to recruit minorities accelerated about five years ago.

This year’s pool continues the trend of primarily older, white men. Eighty percent, or 137 people, who applied are white. There are 129 men (75%), and the average age of all applicants is 64 years.

Jameson and other officials said that last statistic is because of the extensive time commitment required of grand jurors and the small stipend of $25 a day, which Jameson said he would like to see increased.

“But even if we doubled that to $50 a day, I doubt that anyone who has to support themselves, or support a family, could do it on that,” Jameson said.

This year’s pool also includes five African American applicants, compared to just two last year. There are no Filipino applicants this year. East Indians and Middle Easterners are included in the white category, Jameson said.

After an outcry from minority leaders in the mid-1990s, minorities made up a third of the grand jury picked in 1996. But those gains quickly evaporated.

The selection process can be intimidating and sometimes discouraging, David said. And with background checks and interviews and a lottery to choose 19 finalists, he said, it is premature to celebrate.

“We can’t count the chickens before they hatch,” David said. “As history often shows, a lot of these [minority applications] will result in wishful thinking.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

More Diversity in Jury Pool

Below is a breakdown of the ethnic makeup of current and past grand jury pools in Orange County for the past five years. Court officials and minority advocates are encouraged by the higher number of Latinos and American Indians who applied.

2000 pool

172 total

137 white

9 Asian

5 blacks

- Philippino

15 Hispanics

6 American Indians

1999

114 total

102 white

2 Asian