[San Diego County] What’s wrong with Grand Jury duty?

White people staying away

It's a thankless job, and this year, fewer people than ever before have applied to be on the San Diego County Grand Jury, which is impaneled from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. The executive officer has declared the applicant turn-out — at 57, as of Monday — "a historic low."

"We usually have at least 100 applicants," says Superior Court spokeswoman Karen Dalton. "So far, we have 57 for this session."

Grand jurors are appointed by supervisor district, and one district is way out ahead of the others: Ron Roberts' District 1 produced 23 applicants, nearly twice the number from runner-up Dianne Jacob's District 2, where 12 people applied.

A total of 19 people are selected, so the applicants from Greg Cox's District 1 (6), and Dave Roberts' District 4 (7) have the best chance of being selected. Nine people from Bill Horn's district have applied.

Grand jurors commit to serving 32 hours, four days a week at the downtown courthouse, according to the application web page. They receive a $25-a-day stipend for their service, Dalton said.

As we might guess, the majority of the applicants in past years were between the ages of 55 and 74, and listed their professions as retired. Men apply nearly twice as often as women. Interestingly, 132 of last year's 162 applicants chose "other" for race, with just two saying they are white, and eight not providing racial information. The year before, 111 of 145 applicants self-identifed as white.

The grand jury conducts civil investigations and puts out reports and recommendations. Last year, the grand jury looked at adult jails and juvenile facilities, with a range of perceptive comments — from concerns over the time lag in getting mental health care for adult inmates to praise for family visiting facilities at women's facilities. The grand jury also took on the lack of public restrooms downtown, revisiting the stalled progress in keeping its 2004 recommendations.

But a real high note was the investigation into an unnamed San Diego Unified School District trustee, who we now know to be Marne Foster, disrupting the district's staff over how her son's scholastic experience was going. That report was released in May, months before the scandal blew open.

Similarly relevant, the 2009 grand jury recommended that homelessness — then, about half as many people showed up on counting day — should be addressed as a regional issue with a "housing first" approach, which was already working in other urban areas. That same grand jury tackled medical marijuana dispensaries and problems with the Uptown parking district.

Applications have to be in by Jan. 15 — and the applicants have to be U.S. citizens, over the age of 18 and be able to pass a criminal background check.

January 12, 2016

San Diego Reader

By Marty Graham