The Alaska daily empire., 1914-02-18
JURY REFORM.

THE fury reform movement United States has been d
 rected toward getting the selection of jury lists out o
 the hands of partisan officials and toward making them nearly representative of the masses Forery m most the States the jury lists made up by officials who had been chosen on party cketsusuay by the county shes In some of the States the made from the tax payers The first named method frequently made juries parts ot po
 ca machines The other method made them representative of the property owning class only.
 Frequently people here urge that all the names those who voted at previous election within the county or the district which the jury is to be drawn should be placed on the jury that the jurors should be drawn rom IS list That method however has been generally discarded as i'm practicable the that there many people who are qualified to vote who excluded from service for reasons that have been deemed sufficient they have been given the right to claim exemption and usually who has that right e ercses it. For instance lawyers doctors ministers ot the goS pe remen all public officials those who have served on Jury within the year. men over years age and all those suffering physical that would endanger them or those whom they associate with in the jury jury box or interfere With their making good jurors either disqualified or given the right of exemption Now and again the names ot those who nave been bound grand jury investigation appear on the poll books The poll books also contain the names o many persons who remove their places of residence from within the ursdc On of the before the time comes to draw jury
 It would not be in interest of jury reform to have lot of people drawn on the jury and brought to the court house the expense of the community only discover that they are disqualified to would not only entail large cost to the taxpayers would permit officer of the court pick too many jurors venlre It would orng us OacN to e one man method of selection
 To meet this situation fairly jury reformers hit the plan of nOnparsan jury commissioners which required to select lists of men qualified to jurors sufficiently large and so completely representative of all the people that satisfactory jury may secured from it. They use the poll books rather lists get That plan has been adopted in many including those of the Pacific coast
 This the plan that adopted by Congress m preparing the Alaska law requires that the list selected Tn ths manner in Alaska must contain less than 300 names
 AS it applies Fist Judicial Division of this Territory two such made each for the Juneau or north end of the Division for the Kechkn or south end o the Division that at least 600 names have to be selected When one account that the total vote cast in the last Territorial election in the First Division was l94- not 5OOO- means representative percentage of the vo CTS must be included ss It might be that the time has come that the minimum the north end of the Division at least could be increased but that matter of detail The last jury list for this Dvision did, matter of fact sad tain 36O names.
 Those who continue urge that the names of all the cleo tors be included the jury lists have suggested several ways o surmountng the difficulties that confront it. Some of them have been tried CD they suggest that the quatlca ons of man to juror be ascertalned when he registers vor 0 that ures twice large as are needed be selected and that qualified jury be selected by the process of eminaton @ when the panel exhausted that the names of venremen drawn from the jury s and that that process be continued until sufficient number of qualified jurors are selected.
 However thus far nearly all of the States that have taken m the matter of jury reform followed the system select ing large list of qualified men by non-partsan jury connS sion from the poll lists.