Juries
New Jersey governor OKs jury service for hundreds with felony convictions
Outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy talks to reporters in Trenton, New Jersey, on Nov. 5, 2025. (Picture by Seth Wenig/The Related Press)
Outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has restored eligibility to “lots of of hundreds of New Jerseyans” with prior felony convictions to serve on juries.
Murphy, throughout his last days in workplace and shortly earlier than the Martin Luther King Jr. Day vacation, signed an govt motion earlier this week to open jury service to about 350,000 folks within the state.
He made the order official whereas inside New Hope, a Black church concerned in social justice advocacy, in accordance with coverage in Bolts.
The pen that Murphy used to signal order was given to Dameon Stackhouse, a previously incarcerated man who has labored to revive the best to serve on a jury to others, together with these with accomplished jail sentences and folks with a post-incarceration interval of parole or probation.
Earlier than the order was signed, about 25% of Black adults had been prohibited from serving on a jury within the state, in accordance with the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
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