Why is it that juries in Harris County tend to not reflect the demography of the county as a whole? District Clerk Chris Daniel explains why in a recent Chron op-ed. If you’re familiar with the concept of “citizen voting age population” (CVAP), you will likely nod your head as you read it. This isn’t everything – who responds to jury summonses, and who gets picked (and who gets eliminated) by the lawyers during voir dire has something to do with it as well – but it’s a significant factor. It’s also something we should ensure changes over time, as the currently-young Latino population grows up.
On a tangential note, Greg gives us another look at the distribution of Latino registered voters in Harris County. It’s a different topic but the same underlying dynamic, and another thing we should observe over time to see how it changes. In each case, if the change observed is significantly different from what one might reasonably predict to happen, it’s an indicator that something has very likely gone wrong.