The New Jury Management: 4 Shifts in Technology
September 09, 2024 by Ashlin McMaken
Jury emerged as a safeguard for the accused in the 17th century. With hundreds of years in the rearview mirror, jury management has grown and changed significantly — from paper questionnaires and mailed checks to digital transparency and instant access.
The driving force in this transformation is technology, an intertwined element of the 21st century. Whether it’s paying for a morning coffee, rescheduling a flight, or even completing new patient paperwork, technology makes these tasks better and easier.
What we’ve learned about jury management technology is that the key to a successful and long-term jury operation is integrating the modern technology people use in their daily lives into the juror experience.
Transformative technology not only changes the public perception, but it modernizes processes, improves efficiencies, and reduces costs. As we look toward the coming decade, it’s crucial to challenge the status quo and enhance jury operations with these four shifts in technology.
1. Digital Jury Experience
The digital era we live in was spurred by the birth of smartphones. When you realize the first iPhone isn't even 20 years old yet, it puts into perspective how rapidly technology has scaled and integrated into our daily lives. Almost everything we do now is digital or online.
For both jurors and court users, a digital experience is not a piece of the future; it’s the expectation of today. Online access to questionnaires and profiling opens the doors for jurors to complete duties at their own pace and convenience. Digital connectivity saves time and reduces costs for courts, while simplifying jury selection and management.
2. Automated Jury Management
Consider the steps involved in juror selection and check-in: creating pools, producing summons, distributing layered questionnaires, assigning jurors, and even managing final payment distribution. These tasks are not only time-consuming but also stressful to navigate.
Automated technology aligns these tasks to modern expectations, elevating the experience and freeing up staff to focus on higher-priority items that enhance efficiency. When it comes to payment, different generations want different things. Automating payment distribution is not only a speedier delivery process that results in less escheatment but allows the public to choose their experience for receiving payment, making them feel more in control of the process.
3. Actionable Jury Communications
Jury communications must be actionable and easy to understand, while also being timely and convenient. Using simple and direct language, while making expectations clear, can lessen apprehension or stress, which can decrease the likelihood of failure to appear.
Jury duty is a civic responsibility. However, the public perception is often that it's an inconvenience: having to take time off work; travel across town, or spend time away from family. It's crucial that communications are timely — it’s the courtesy and convenience jurors deserve while serving. For events like traffic, weather, or even calling jurors off entirely, court staff need the digital communication means to support notifying mass amounts of people in a short amount of time. Offering multichannel communication methods, such as email, text, and phone calls, ensures jurors receive updates in a way that suits their preferences while simplifying the distribution process.
4. Integrated Jury Operations
According to Gartner®, “By 2027, more than 70% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives, up from less than 15% in 2023.” This signifies a prominent shift toward platforms that yield the latest developments and experiences people have come to expect. Cloud-based software-as-a-service models offer the navigation and integration needed to work smarter, make jobs easier, and move jurors through the experience faster.
The Years Ahead
The way people manage their lives — through notifications, communications, and even payments — is increasingly driven by digital connectivity. While the future of jury is not 100% predictable, jury management technology that keeps up with the technological shifts can create opportunities for future-proofing expectations and operational efficiency.
1 Gartner, Top Technology Trends in Government for 2024, Todd Kimbriel, Ben Kaner, et al., March 20, 2024
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