§ 51-232 — Summoning of jurors. Juror questionnaire. Reduction of panel. Courthouse.

Connecticut § 51-232

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 51: Courts
• Ch. 884: Jurors

Text

(a) The Jury Administrator shall send to each juror drawn, by first class mail, a notice stating the place where and the time when he or she is to appear and such notice shall constitute a sufficient summons unless a judge of said court directs that jurors be summoned in some other manner. (b) Such summons or notice shall also state the fact that a juror has a right to one postponement of the juror's term of juror service for not more than ten months and may contain any other information and instructions deemed appropriate by the Jury Administrator. If the date to which the juror has postponed jury service is improper, unavailable or inconvenient for the court, the Jury Administrator shall assign a date of service which, if possible, is reasonably close to the postponement date selected by the juror. Such notice or summons shall be made available to any party or to the attorney for such party in an action to be tried to a jury. The Jury Administrator may grant additional postponements within or beyond said ten months but not beyond one year from the original summons date. (c) (1) The Jury Administrator shall provide to a prospective juror a juror confirmation form and a confidential juror questionnaire. Such questionnaire shall include questions eliciting the juror's name, age, race and ethnicity, gender, occupation, education, information usually raised in voir dire examination and such other demographic information determined appropriate by the Judicial Branch. The questionnaire shall inform the prospective juror that information concerning race and ethnicity is required solely to enforce nondiscrimination in jury selection, that the furnishing of such information is not a prerequisite to being qualified for jury service and that such information need not be furnished if the prospective juror finds it objectionable to do so. Such juror confirmation form and confidential juror questionnaire shall be signed by the prospective juror under penalty of false statement. Copies of the completed questionnaires shall be provided to the judge and to counsel for use during voir dire or in preparation therefor. Counsel shall be required to return such copies to the clerk of the court upon completion of the voir dire. Except for disclosure made during voir dire or unless the court orders otherwise, information inserted by jurors shall be held in confidence by the court, the parties, counsel and their authorized agents. Such completed questionnaires shall not constitute a public record. (2) The Judicial Branch shall compile a record of the demographic characteristics of all persons who: (A) Are summoned for jury service, (B) participated in a panel, (C) are subject to a peremptory challenge, (D) are subject to challenge for cause, and (E) serve on a jury. Such record shall exclude personally identifiable information and shall be maintained in a manner that provides free and open access to the information on the Internet. As used in this subdivision, “personally identifiable information” means any identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. (d) The number of jurors in a panel may be reduced when, in the opinion of the court, such number of jurors is in excess of reasonable requirements. Such reduction by the clerk shall be accomplished by lot to the extent authorized by the court and the jurors released shall be subject to recall for jury duty only if and when required. (e) In each judicial district, the Chief Court Administrator shall designate one or more courthouses to be the courthouse to which jurors originally shall be summoned. The court may assign any jurors of a jury pool to attend any courtroom within the judicial district.

Legislative History

(1949 Rev., S. 7915; 1955, S. 3170d; 1959, P.A. 28, S. 209; 1967, P.A. 695, S. 6; 1971, P.A. 870, S. 8; P.A. 74-183, S. 279, 291; P.A. 76-436, S. 241, 681; P.A. 77-576, S. 15, 65; P.A. 78-280, S. 89, 127; P.A. 82-11, S. 9, 12; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-5, S. 10, 18; P.A. 84-393, S. 10, 18, 20; P.A. 86-278, S. 9, 12; P.A. 94-169, S. 12, 20; P.A. 96-179, S. 5, 9; P.A. 97-200, S. 9; P.A. 00-116, S. 5, 7; P.A. 21-170, S. 4, 5; P.A. 22-26, S. 21.) History: 1959 act added reference to section 51-227a; 1967 act rephrased section; 1971 act added provisions re reduction of number of jurors in a panel, effective September 1, 1971; P.A. 74-183 deleted reference to drawing of jurors under provisions of Sec. 51-227a or 51-230, effective December 31, 1974; P.A. 76-436 substituted “court” for “courts” reflecting transfer of all trial jurisdiction to superior court, effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 77-576 added Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 78-280 made minor changes in wording of Subsec. (a); P.A. 82-11 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting provisions concerning notice of the time and place of the drawing of a jury and adding a provision that the notice and summons to a juror is available to a party or his attorney; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-5, effective July 1, 1985, and applicable to summoning of jurors for jury duty on and after September 1, 1986, added provision in Subsec. (a) re information to be included on summons or notice, added provision in Subsec. (b) re juror confirmation form and confidential juror questionnaire, and relettered remaining subsections; P.A. 84-393 repealed amendments enacted by June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-5 and amended Subsec. (a), making provisions applicable to jurors selected and summoned to serve on or before August 31, 1986, and added Subsec. (b) re summoning of jurors, juror confirmation form, confidential juror questionnaire, reduction in panel and courthouse to which jurors are summoned, applicable to jurors selected and summoned to serve on or after September 1, 1986; P.A. 86-278 amended Subsec. (a) by making provisions apply in any judicial district to which the provisions of Sec. 51-238a(a) are not applicable, to jurors selected and summoned to serve on or after September 1, 1986; amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision re assignment of date of service by jury administrator if postponement date is improper, unavailable or inconvenient and making provisions apply in any judicial district to which the provisions of Sec. 51-238a(a) are applicable; and added Subsec. (c) re procedures for summoning jurors on or after September 1, 1987, in any judicial district to which the provisions of Sec. 51-238a(a) are applicable; P.A. 94-169 eliminated obsolete provisions, effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 96-179 amended Subsec. (c) by adding provision requiring questionnaire to include questions eliciting juror's name, age, race and ethnicity, occupation and education and to inform juror that such information is required solely to enforce nondiscrimination in jury selection and not prerequisite to qualification for jury service and information need not be furnished if juror finds it objectionable, effective September 1, 1996; P.A. 97-200 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting references to clerk of the court and Sec. 51-231 and amended Subsec. (e) to add provision authorizing court to assign any jurors of a jury pool to attend any courtroom within the judicial district; P.A. 00-116 amended Subsec. (b) by making technical changes, changing “one year “ to “ten months” for postponement of jury service and authorizing Jury Administrator to grant additional postponements within or beyond 10-month period but not beyond one year from original summons date, effective September 1, 2000; P.A. 21-170 added Subsec. (f) re jury summons found to be undeliverable and made technical changes in Subsecs. (a), (b) and (e), effective July 1, 2022, and amended Subsec. (c) to designate existing provisions as Subdiv. (1) and amended same to add reference to gender and other demographic information the Judicial Branch determines appropriate and make technical changes, and added Subdiv. (2) re Judicial Branch data compilation, effective October 1, 2022; P.A. 22-26 deleted former Subsec. (f) re jury summons found to be undeliverable, effective July 1, 2022.