Hank Investigates: Out of the Box

It’s a founding principle of American democracy - your right to trial by an impartial jury.

But our investigation found thousands of Massachusetts residents, many living in low income and minority neighborhoods are left out of the system and will never be called for jury duty.

Here's one block of Carey Avenue in Chelsea:

And here - according to town records - are the people who live there:

Hank Phillippi Ryan taking to resident:
"Does John Burgeon still live here?"

Resident
"No."

But time after time, the people on the list didn't live there and someone else did.

What we're checking is the "town list" - the only source used to call jurors for federal and state trials. But in town after town we found that the list is wrong! Inaccurate, outdated, and incomplete.

Hank Phillippi Ryan taking to resident:
"This house is not listed on the town list at all."

The alarming result is that the system that's supposed to provide a fair trial is unfair, unbalanced, and profoundly unequal.

Jeffrey Abramson, Jury Expert
"If you're starting from a list that's unrepresentative of your kind of person or your walk of life, then you know you're not being given equal protection of laws from the beginning."

Here's the key: the town census. State law requires communities to send out census forms every year, every resident must fill them out and send them back. Those names, plus registered voter, create the town list. If your name is not there, the jury commissioner won't know you exist! And you will never be called.

Hank Phillippi Ryan taking to resident:
"Have you ever been called for jury duty?"

Resident
"No."

Now look at Cutter Street in Somerville - 17 of 24 houses were wrong and none of the residents were on the list. All of them are invisible to the jury system.

Hank Phillippi Ryan taking to resident:
"Have you ever been called for jury duty?"

Resident
"No, never."

This triple-decker in New Bedford is also all wrong. This entire apartment building in Chelsea - wrong. Those who do live here are invisible.

Hank Phillippi Ryan taking to resident:
"Have you ever been called for jury duty?

Resident
"No."

This man: invisible. This woman: invisible. Husband and wife: invisible.

Jeffrey Abramson, Jury Expert
"And that invisibility is the opposite of democracy."

Jury expert Jeffrey Abramson examined the results of our first-of-its-kind investigation.

Jeffrey Abramson, Jury Expert
"I think some of this borders on the shocking."

How can the lists be so wrong? We called more than a hundred cities and towns and turns out that many residents just don’t send back the census forms. Many communities don't look for those that are missing.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"Do you know how many of those forms are actually returned?"

And our survey proves exactly who's getting missed. Overwhelmingly white communities such as Dover and Topsfield said they got back 100 percent of their census forms. But in high-minority cities, census returns are alarmingly low. In Lawrence, only 45 percent of the forms came back. In Brockton, it was only 50 percent. In Chelsea it was less than 50 percent.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"So that means half the people in the town may not be on the town list?"

Robert Bishop, Chelsea City Clerk
"That's correct."

And in New Bedford, officials admitted they haven't even done a census for years.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"How many people do you think you don't get?"

Maria Tomasia, New Bedford Election Commission
"I think tons of them."

Why are the return rates so different? Money. Each community has to pay for its census and to track down the people who don't answer. Lack of money means lack of results - and that means lack of jurors.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"So you have half the town that won't be called for jury duty."

Nicholas Salerno, Somerville Election Commission
"If they don’t fill in the forms they won’t be called."

So which potential jurors will be called? Residents of communities that are spending enough to produce an accurate list. Who won't be sitting in the jury box? Those from communities who can't afford that: minorities, newcomers, renters, unregistered voters and young people. The result is whole segments of the population that are invisible.

Jeffrey Abramson, Jury Expert
"I mean that’s ridiculous. Justice is not tradable for money."

So how much difference does this make in the jury box? We obtained exclusive information about federal jury pools in Massachusetts--and uncovered a disturbing pattern. Tune in on Wednesday at 11 p.m. and we'll have more about this jury injustice. We'll focus on your right to an impartial jury--but that may not be what you'll get.