BBA Praises Revisions to Jury Plan for U.S. District Court in MA 

BOSTON, Mar., 12 -- Following the adoption earlier this month of a plan to increase the racial diversity of juries sitting in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Boston Bar Association President Jack Cinquegrana issued the following statement:

“We applaud the Court’s action in taking an important first step to ensure that the jury selection process is fair and representative for all litigants.  More importantly, we commend the court's commitment to monitor the impact of the new plan, and we hope that additional improvements will be considered in order to remedy the long-standing and well-documented problem of the under-representation of African Americans and other minorities on federal juries in Massachusetts.”

In the fall of 2005, the Boston Bar Association was one of a number of organizations which signed on to an amicus brief in United States v. Darryl Green,  highlighting the importance of racially diverse jury pools to assure access to justice for all defendants.  In addition the BBA drafted a petition to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts urging the Court to revise its jury plan to remedy the under-representation of minorities in the federal jury pool.