News

Statement of Chief Justice Castille for Juror Appreciation Week

May 05, 2008

HARRISBURG, May 5, 2008 - Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Ronald D. Castille today expressed appreciation to the estimated 200,000 citizens who appeared for jury duty at county courthouses across the Commonwealth during the past year. In observance of Juror Appreciation Week, today through May 9, Castille issued the following statement: "One of the fundamental rights of the American people is the right to a trial by jury. But to ensure that right, the people themselves must be willing to play a role in the justice system. They must occasionally be willing to set aside personal business and respond to the call to serve as jurors. "Historically, the American colonists took the power of trial by jury from the king of England by revolution, that right having been denied them through bitterly hated British laws known as the Navigation Acts. The Declaration of Independence denounced the king 'for depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury.' "With the American Revolution, the people of this Nation asserted their right to be free and self-governing. The right to a jury trial was written into Article Three of the Constitution in 1787. The same right was reasserted in the Bill of Rights in the Sixth and Seventh Amendments in 1791. "Those rights are built into our history and our heritage. That is why this week we honor those Pennsylvania citizens who, by serving as jurors during the past year, have kept faith with the founders of our Nation and helped to keep the principles of Democracy alive. We encourage all citizens to do the same. "This year, we expect more citizens than ever to be identified as potential jurors in Pennsylvania. Data from a new statewide jury list will be made available to each county this fall by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. The data from this list is far more extensive than information previously available. It is our hope that this program, by identifying more potential jurors in each county, will increase citizen participation and create greater diversity in jury pools throughout the Commonwealth."