What Is “One Day/One Trial” And Why It Should Be Standard For All Courts – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

One Day/One Trial jury duty service systems are becoming
increasingly common across the United States. Dallas County, for
instance, was one of the first jurisdictions to implement the
system for jury duty.¹ It started even earlier in Harris
County, Texas in the 1970s,² but some jurisdictions had
not yet implemented this system prior to the 21st
Century.³

One Day/One Trial (sometimes referred to as ODOT) is a jury
selection process where if a prospective juror is not selected to
serve on a jury the day they report for jury duty, they will be
released to go home, unless the trial court instructs them to
return.⁴ One Day/One Trial, and shorter jury services in
general, can benefit both the juror and the justice system as a
whole.

Benefits to the
Juror

The One Day/One Trial system benefits both employees who serve
on juries and their employers. Employees will lose less potential
income because they will have a clear and shorter time frame
defined for serving as a juror.⁵ Likewise, employers
will have an easier time finding a substitute or someone to cover
for that employee since the time period is fairly brief and
predictable.⁶ In this way, the ODOT system expands
representation on juries by making it easier for everyone to serve
as a juror because barriers like taking time off work and losing
income are reduced.⁷

Jurors also benefit from the One Day/One Trial by having more
opportunities to serve on the jury, which can be a positive and
educational act of civil service.⁸ A study done in the
late 1980s showed that in a ODOT system where it was significantly
more likely for prospective jurors to sit through only one voir
dire process, there was only a slight decrease in the number of
people who were selected to sit on a jury – meaning that more
people overall had the opportunity to serve as
jurors.⁹

Benefits to the
Justice System

One of the primary benefits of the One Day/One Trial system is
the increased diversity of jury pools that it offers.¹⁰
As mentioned earlier, ODOT systems ease the burden of taking off
work thus allowing more people a chance to serve on a
jury.¹¹ It also captures a broader cross-section of the
workforce because the shorter time of services (usually one day)
makes it easier for potential jurors to schedule time off
work.¹² A diverse jury pool and diverse juries are
broadly recognized to lead to a healthier, fairer justice
system.¹³

A One Day/One Trial system also increases the overall
effectiveness of the justice system. First, despite some concerns
from critics, ODOT systems have actually been shown to reduce
overall costs and costs per juror– even though more jurors
are being summoned.¹⁴ These reductions are benefits of
the shorter timeframe of the ODOT system — as opposed to
traditional costs associated with employers continually covering
employee jurors for longer periods, and the courts’ costs of
maintaining jurors who are serving, such as parking or travel
expenses, meals, lost wages, etc.¹⁵

But more than that, jurors have reported being more engaged and
attentive during the process and are more likely to appear when
summoned because jurors know they will only be held for one day or
one trial.¹⁶ While concerns over losing ‘veteran
jurors’ have been raised in an argument against the ODOT
system, fresh jurors are often less cynical, more cooperative, and
approach trials they are placed on with a fresh perspective,
unaffected by prior trial service.¹⁷

Overall, a One Day/One Trial system brings many benefits while
having little downside, and every jurisdiction could likely benefit
from using the One Day/One Trial system.

Footnotes

1. Dallas County, Jury System (last visited March 15,
   2022).




2. G. Thomas Munsterman, Evaluation of One Day/One
   Trial Term of Jury Service, National Center for State Courts
   (February 7, 1990) at 1.




3. Hon. Jacqueline Connor (ret.), What One Day One
   Trial Means to You, CAALA Advocate Magazine (Oct.
   2007).




4. Id.




5. Stephen Michael Tow, Fact Sheet: One Day or One
   Trial Jury Service, Judicial Council of California (January
   2022; Originally created January 2016).




6. Id.




7. Terry F. Holtrop, An Evaluation of the One-Week,
   One-Trial Juror Term of Service for 17th Circuit Court for Kent
   County, Michigan, Institute for Court Management Court
   Development Program (May 2004) at 43.




8. Munsterman, supra note 2, at 3.




9. Id.




10. Holtrop, supra note 7, at 28.




11. Id. at 43.




12. Munsterman, supra, note 2 at 5.




13. Ashish S. Joshi and Christina T. Kline, Lack of Jury
    Lack of Jury Diversity: A National Problem with Individual
    Consequences, American Bar Association (September 1,
    2015).




14. Holtrop, supra, note 7, at 33-34; Munsterman,
    supra, note 2, at 10-11.




15. Holtrop, supra, note 7, at 33-34.




16. Holtrop, supra, note 7, at 40-41; Munsterman,
    supra, note 2, at 6.




17. Holtrop, supra, note 7, at 40-41, 49, 53;
    Munsterman, supra, note 2, at 6.