By Qiana Johnson and Heather Warnken
Maryland holds the shameful distinction of being first in the nation in the over-incarceration of Black males. Extreme racial disparities pervade nearly all aspects of the state’s criminal justice system. Black residents make up 29% of the state population, yet 71% of the prison population. Rightfully, these statistics are drawing increased attention. Less often discussed, however, is how these realities affect juries—and how Marylanders accused of crimes, who are disproportionately Black and poor, are often denied access to a fundamental promise of the justice system: a jury of their peers.
Nationally, approximately one-third of Black men have a past felony conviction that, in many states, would exclude them from jury service. But Maryland takes this further, barring individuals from jury service for life for all felony convictions and misdemeanors punishable by more than a year of incarceration.
This is not just a question of fairness; it’s a question of systemic legitimacy. Equally fundamental to the right to a jury of our peers is the right to serve on a jury. While some may view getting called for jury duty a pain, it is an essential part of our democracy —empowering ordinary citizens to weigh evidence, deliberate, and as described by the Supreme Court of the United States, be “instruments of public justice” in their communities. We need to talk about the fact that Maryland’s extreme and outdated policy effectively shuts out a huge percentage of the population from this fundamental form of civic participation—impacting Black Marylanders by a wide margin. And we need to do something about it.
Senate Bill 322, which passed the Senate, restores the right of people with past convictions who’ve paid their debt to society to serve on juries. The bill includes reasonable guardrails, exempting individuals convicted of perjury, witness tampering or jury intimidation—offenses that directly impact the integrity of the court process.
Serving on a jury would not be automatic. The bill simply allows people with past convictions to reenter the pool of eligible jurors like anyone else, where they would be subject to questioning of individual bias based on the unique facts and circumstances of a case, a standard process known as voir dire.
This issue matters for all Marylanders. Research consistently shows that diverse juries deliberate more thoroughly, consider a wider range of perspectives, and make fewer factual errors. They are more likely to challenge assumptions and confront bias, leading to more careful decision-making. When juries better reflect the community, the justice system works better. Verdicts reached by juries that appear representative of the community are more likely to be viewed as legitimate – by crime victims, defendants, and the public at large.
States across the country are rethinking outdated jury exclusion. Recently, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy used his clemency power to restore jury eligibility to hundreds of thousands of residents who had completed their sentences. In doing so, he acknowledged the role that systemic inequity and racialized policing had played in creating inequity in the jury box.
With Senate Bill 322, Maryland also has the opportunity to set a new standard. It would not guarantee perfectly fair and representative juries. No reform can. But it would remove an outdated, unnecessary and unjust barrier—one that excludes people for life who have already paid their debt to society and are contributing members of their communities. It would strengthen the quality of jury deliberations, balance the responsibility of jury service more equitably, and reinforce the legitimacy of our courts.
With only five days left in session, lawmakers must act now to fix the fundamentally inequitable state of the jury system. In the face of so much injustice emboldened at the federal level, state lawmakers should take every opportunity possible to help strengthen the justice system’s promises at home.
Qiana Johnson is the founder and executive director of Life After Release, a nonprofit supporting people returning home from incarceration.
Heather Warnken is executive director of the University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice Reform.
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