A state Assembly committee on Monday moved a bill that would would allow people with certain criminal convictions to serve as trial jurors for the first time, but disagreement has surfaced over those it was still excluding.
The bill before the Assembly’s judiciary committee would exclude residents convicted of murder or aggravated sexual assault from the new allowance.
But that means people like Antonne Henshaw, the executive director of the advocacy group Transformative Justice Initiative, wouldn’t be able to sit after having served 30 years in prison for homicide.
“Who is a better subject matter expert than someone who went to trial, lost, understands a lot of the court procedures,” said Henshaw in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “So why should we be excluded from the jury pool? And we are the ones pushing for the right to sit on juries.”
Emily Schwartz, senior counsel at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, said any exclusion is more like punishment rather than fulfilling a civic obligation. “We either believe in the idea of individuals serving their time and redemption, or we don’t,” she said.
Former Gov. Jim McGreevy, chairman of the board at the New Jersey Reentry Program and current Jersey City mayoral candidate, said the bill overall is crucial to restoring full justice in the state.
“I think it should move forward and then most importantly, long-term I think it’s critical that New Jersey continues to bring as many court-involved persons into the full array of benefits that all citizens have,” the former governor told NJ Spotlight News.
The Senate version of the jury reform bill is now pending review by its judiciary committee.
