756.001 State policy on jury service; opportunity and obligation to serve as juror.

(1) Trial by jury is a cherished constitutional right.

(2) Jury service is a civic duty.

(3) No person who is qualified and able to serve as a juror may be excluded from that service in any court of this state on the basis of sex, race, color, sexual orientation as defined in s. 111.32 (13m), disability, religion, national origin, marital status, family status, lawful source of income, age or ancestry or because of a physical condition.

(4) All persons selected for jury service shall be selected at random from the population of the area served by the circuit court. All qualified persons shall have an equal opportunity to be considered for jury service in this state and the obligation to serve as jurors when summoned under this chapter for that purpose. Any manual or automated method of selection that provides each qualified person with an equal probability of selection for jury service or that provides each prospective juror with an equal opportunity for assignment to a particular trial may be used.

(5) The presiding judge of each circuit court, or, if there is none, the circuit judge designated by the chief judge to supervise the jury system, shall be responsible for administering the jury system in that court and shall discharge that duty in an efficient, equitable and cost-effective manner, in accordance with this chapter. The clerk of circuit court, if delegated by and under the supervision of the judge responsible for administering the jury system, may select and manage juries under policies and rules established by the judges in that circuit court.

History: 1991 a. 271; Sup. Ct. Order No. 96-08, 207 Wis. 2d xv (1997).

Judicial Council Note, 1996: Subsections (1) and (2) are based on prior s. 756.001(1). Subsection (3) implements ABA Standard 4 by expanding the nondiscrimination clause of prior s. 756.01(3) to all classes protected under the state equal rights statute, s. 101.22. Subsection (4) implements ABA Standard 3 and is based on prior s. 756.001(2). Subsection (5), based on the same prior statute, implements ABA Standard 10. [Re SCO No. 96-08 eff. 7-1-97]

Wisconsin law does not permit a court to deliberately summon a greater number of potential jurors from some geographic areas than from others in an attempt to ensure that the racial and ethnic makeup of juries better reflects a representative cross-section of the community served by the court. Wisconsin law requires that all qualified persons have an equal opportunity to be randomly summoned for jury service. It does not permit a jury selection system that gives some persons greater, some lesser, opportunities to be summoned, depending on the area of the community where they live. OAG 3-08.