Constitutional Perspectives on Sex Discrimination in Jury Selection

• NCJ Number: 75571
• Journal: Women's Rights Law Reporter Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (June 1975) Pages: 3-12
• Author(s): R Copelon; E M Schneider; N Stearns
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from California Commission on the Status of Women, Equal Rights Amendment Project, 1975.

Annotation

Discrimination against women in the formation of juries is discussed historically and in terms of current practices such as exemptive procedures, judicial treatment of sex-based systems, and equal protection application.

Abstract

All judicial systems use exemptions to relieve certain persons or groups from jury duty. These exemptions include categorical exemptions for women, child care exemptions, and sex neutral child care exemptions which largely work against women. These exemptions act to reduce the number of women serving on juries. Generally, the judicial system has taken a very myopic view of sex-based selection systems, dating from common law precedents. The Supreme Court in Taylor versus Louisiana, however, ruled that blanket exemptions based on sex are unconstitutional if they serve to make criminal juries overwhelmingly male. Exemption of women from jury duties injures both defendants and the women themselves. While exclusion of women on the basis of their child-care role might once have been defensible, it is so no longer. Passage of the Equal Rights Amendment would invalidate exemptions based on sex. Photographs and footnotes are included.