Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-13
MOST WOMEN BALK
|. At JURY SERVICE,
JUSTICE ASSERTS
Gordon Replies to Complaint
That Sex Lacks Fair
Chance at Duty.
DO NOT WISH TO ACT
AT ALL, HE OBSERVES
National Woman's Party Leader
Raises Issue in Letter Asking
Better Deal.

Three out of four women who are Sc
lected for service on juries in the Dis
trict Supreme Court are taking adj
vantage Of their privilege of refusing to
serve, Justice Peyton Gordon, who is
presiding in Criminal Division l and
selecting juries, declared today in reply
to letter from the District Branch of
the National Woman's Party complain
ing that practically no women are serv-
ing on local juries.
Il was struck by the unprecedentedly
large number of women who declined
jury service last week." Justice Gordon
said. When I asked If they merely
sought to evade service for this term,
l was frequently met with the answer
that they did not want to serve at ALL
Mrs. Lillian Pritchard, only woman
member of the Board of Jury Commits
sioners, agreed with Justice Gordon that
an unusually large number Of women
has declined to serve.
Letter Of Complaint.
The letter of complaint was written
by Mrs. Paul M. Linebarger, chairman
OF the District branch, National Wom-
ans Party, and follows:
ut has come to the attention of the
District branch of the National Wom-
ans Party that practically no women
are serving on juries at the present
time.
This organization had the woman
juror measure introduced in Congress,
which measure had the support Of all
the principal groups Of organized
women In the city.
1.-THE present grand jury consists of
% memo white and colored. 1t APP
pears that for the first time since the
woman juror law was put into practice
no women are serving on the grand
jury. One of the pricipal reasons for
removing the disqualif1cations of women
as jurors was the feeling that in cases
involving offenses against minors, par
ticularly young girls, the presence Of a
few of the mothers Of children in the
grand jury. room would be more In &C
cordance with humanity and justice
1t is, therefore, with regret, that we
note the absence of women on the
grand jury.
Refers TO Petit Jurors.
with regard to petit jurors, it is
observed that out of the 48 now avail
able for service in Criminal Courts
number and 2, only five are women.
These figures are typical.
1T is true that the woman Juror law
provides that service by women shall
not be compulsory. However, the al
most total absence of woman jurors
in the Supreme Court of the District
at this time is not due to claims by
women for exemption, but to the fact
that women were given little or no
opportunity for service OF the several
hundred people recently summoned for
jury service, almost no women were
included.
Wants Women Called.
Jury service Is an important part of
the administration of justice, and the
District branch of the Woman's party
earnestly urges the jury commissioners
not to exclude women as jurors by fail
ing to call them for service"
At present there are 19 women in
the six petit juries in the District Su-
preme Court for the October term.
There are four each in Circuit Division
!, Circuit Division 3 and Criminal Dr.
vision 3. Three are on the jury of
Criminal Division l and two each on
the Juries of Circuit Division 2 and
Criminal Division 2. There are no
women on the grand jury.