REGULATIONSof the
Office of Jury Commissioner
for the Commonwealth
REGULATIONS
of the
Office of Jury Commissioner
for the Commonwealth
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ONLINE TEXT OF THE REGULATIONS
of the Office of Jury Commissioner for the Commonwealth
T A B L E of C O N T E N T S
THE NUMBERED RESIDENT LIST Regulation #2: THE NUMBERED RESIDENT FILE Regulation #3: SPECIAL FORMS Regulation #4: NIGHT-SHIFT EMPLOYEES Excerpt from M.G.L. Chapter 234A, §8: Rules and Regulations of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Jury Commissioner.
...The jury commissioner, with the approval of the supreme judicial court, may promulgate regulations setting forth policies, procedures, and forms for the selection and management of grand and trial jurors at local levels, in the juror pools, in courtrooms, and in other appropriate circumstances in furtherance of the objectives of this chapter.
Regulation 1 of the Jury Commissioner
The Numbered Resident List
(as amended December 1, 1993)1.1 The specifications of the Numbered Resident List ("The List"), established by Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 234A, Section 10, as amended by the acts of 1982, Chapter 298, are set forth in this Regulation.
1.2 The format of the List shall be set forth as follows. The List shall be typewritten or machine printed and shall contain the maximum number of lines per page as possible to reduce the total number of pages. One legible copy of this list shall be sent to the Office of Jury Commissioner no later than June first of each year. The minimum page size shall be eight and one-half inches by eleven inches. The maximum page size shall be eleven inches by fifteen inches. Continuous forms shall not be burst.
1.3 The heading on each page of the List shall contain the following data: the name of the city or town, the name of the county, the current year, the title "Numbered Resident List", and a consecutive page number.
1.4 The List shall contain the following information for each person who is seventeen years of age or older as of the first day of January of the current year, and who resides as of the first day of January of the current year in such city or town: name (last name, first name, and middle initial), mailing address (where a street address and a Post Office Box number are available, provide the Post Office Box number), Zip Code for the mailing address, date of birth (must include the month, day, and year of birth), sex, occupation and a consecutive sequence number. For each city or town, the first sequence number shall be one, and the last sequence number shall equal the total number of persons on the list.
1.5 Vacant properties and other types of "non-resident" listings shall not appear on the Numbered Resident List.
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Regulation 2 of the Jury Commissioner
The Numbered Resident File
(as amended December 1, 1993)2.1 The specifications of the Numbered Resident File ("The File"), established by Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 234A, Section 11, as amended by the Acts of 1982, Chapter 298, are set forth in this regulation.
2.2 The first record for each city or town shall be a header record containing header sequence number, current year, city or town name, and county name. The header record layout shall be as follows:
Field Location Field Length Data Description 1-6 6 Header sequence number 7-10 4 Current year 11-30 20 City or town name 31-50 20 County Name 51-110 60 blank The header sequence number shall be six zeros. This shall be the only record with a sequence number equal to zeros. The current year shall be four numeric characters. The city or town name shall be left-justified within the field and shall contain the name only (Example: "NEWTON" not "CITY OF NEWTON"). The county name shall be left-justified and shall contain the name only (Example: "MIDDLESEX" not "MIDDLESEX COUNTY").
2.3 The second and each subsequent record for each city or town shall be a detail record. One detail record shall be provided for each resident on the Numbered Resident File. The first sequence number shall be numbered one. Each detail record thereafter shall be incremented by one. The last detail record on the file will have a sequence number equal to the total number of residents on the file. There shall be no duplicate sequence numbers. Each detail record will contain the following information which shall be in uppercase lettering: sequence number, last name (designations such as "JR" or "III" shall appear in this field), first name, middle initial, mailing address, five-digit Zip Code for the mailing address, Zip+4 Code for the mailing address, date of birth, sex, and occupation. The detail record for each city or town shall be in ascending order according to the sequence number of each record.
The detail record layout shall be as follows:
Field Location Field Length Data Description 1-6 6 Sequence number 7-31 25 Last name 32-45 14 First name 46 1 Middle initial 47-78 32 Mailing address 79-83 5 Zip Code 84-87 4 Zip+4 Code 88-93 6 Date of birth 94 1 Sex 95-110 16 Occupation The sequence number shall be numeric, right-justified within the field, and contain leading zeros. The last name shall contain the full last name, hyphenated if appropriate, and be left-justified with the field. The first name shall be left-justified within the field. The mailing address, which shall contain no leading zeros in any number, shall be left-justified and contain the house number, street name, and apartment number if appropriate or the Post Office Box number, exactly as it should appear for mailing purposes (Example: 200 BEACON ST #12A or PO BOX 23). The Zip Code shall contain five numeric characters and the Zip+4 Code which shall contain four numeric characters. The date of birth shall contain six numeric characters in the format MMDDYY. The left-most characters shall indicate the month (a leading zero is required if appropriate). The middle two characters shall indicate the day of the month (a leading zero is required if appropriate). The right-most two characters shall indicate the year of birth (a leading zero is required if appropriate). If only the year of birth is known, the year of birth shall be inserted preceded by blanks in the month and day portions of this field. If the date of birth is unavailable, this field shall contain all blanks. The sex field shall contain one alphabetic character: "F" for female, "M" for male. If the sex is not known, this field shall contain one blank character. Occupation field shall be left-justified within the field.
2.4 The data processing records shall be if stored on one-half inch magnetic computer tape having shall conform to the following specifications:
9-track
1600 or 6250 bits-per-inch-density (B.P.I.)
EBCDIC or ASCII character set
odd parity / no label information
110 characters per record / 8 records per block
Each reel shall be marked with the name of the city or town and the current year and shall be sent submitted to the Office of Jury Commissioner no later than June first of each year and shall be accompanied by a letter or memorandum stating the number of records on the tape, number of tracks, density character set, parity, and other information needed to process the data contained on the tape. This memorandum shall also contain the name, address, and telephone number of an individual who may be contacted by the Office of Jury Commissioner in the event questions or difficulties arise regarding the content or format of the computer tape. Where applicable, the data for several cities or towns may be concatenated to create a single file on tape.
2.5 The data processing records if stored on diskette shall conform to the following specifications:
a.) The diskette must be readable on an MS-DOS(r) , version 2.0 or higher 100% compatible IBM AT(r) personal computer (PC).
b.) The diskette shall be formatted in MS-DOS(r) and shall be double-sided.
c.) If The File requires storage on more than one (1) diskette, it shall be submitted in the MS-DOS(r) BACKUP/RESTORE format.
d.) The File may be submitted as files that are readable under the following software: DBaseII(r) or higher, PCFile+(r) version 2 or higher, or Word Perfect(r) version 4.2 or higher.
e.) The File may be submitted in one of the following formats in ASCII: comma delimited, text editor or SDF format (one record per line with no separators between fields), fixed length (every record is exactly the same length with no delimiters between records), and line delimited (one field per line).
The data may be stored on 52" or 33" diskettes. Each diskette shall be marked with the name of the city or town, the current year, and the run date of the disk. The diskette shall be sent to the Office of Jury Commissioner accompanied by a letter or memorandum stating the number of records on the diskette(s), the format it is in, the model of computer used, the name and version of the software used to create The File, the name and version of the disk operating system used, and any other information needed to process the data contained on the diskette. This letter memorandum shall also contain the name, address, and telephone number of an individual who may be contacted by The Office in the event questions or difficulties arise regarding the content and/or format of the diskette.
2.6 Any city or town having good cause or desiring to submit its Numbered Resident File in a form or format not in compliance with this regulation may make a written request to the Jury Commissioner for authority to do so on or before the first day of June of each year. The proposed alternative file shall contain all of the information contained under this regulation. The letter of request shall describe with particularity the alternative form and/or format proposed by the city or town and the reasons therefor. The Jury Commissioner will grant or deny such request in writing within ten days of its receipt.
Regulation 3 of the Jury Commissioner
Special Forms3.1 The specifications of the Special Forms ("The Form") used by cities and towns to provide the prospective Juror List to the Office of Jury Commissioner, pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 234A, Section 14, as amended by the acts of 1982, Chapter 298, are set forth in this Regulation.
3.2 The Special Form is attached to this Regulation. Any city or town which qualifies and elects to submit information to the Office of Jury Commissioner pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 234A, Section 14, as amended, shall use The Form for this purpose.
3.3 All information inserted into the Special Form shall be typewritten. Double-spaced format shall be used. The information pertaining to each numbered resident shall be contained in a single type written line on The Form.
3.4 The following information shall be inserted into the appropriate blanks in the heading on each page of The Form: the current year, the name of city or town, the name of the county, and a consecutive page number.
3.5 For each numbered resident on the numbered resident list whose sequence number appears in the list of random numbers generated by the Office of Jury Commissioner pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 234A, Section 13, the following information shall be inserted into The Form under the appropriate column headings: The sequence number shall be numeric, without leading zeros, and be right-justified within the column. The last name shall contain the full last name, not to exceed twenty-five characters including blanks, be hyphenated if appropriate, include such designations as "JR" or "III", and be left-justified within the column. The first name shall contain fourteen characters including blanks, and be left-justified within the column. The middle initial shall be one character. The mailing address shall contain the house number, street name, and apartment number or the Post Office Box number if appropriate, not to exceed thirty-two characters including blanks and be left-justified within the column. The Zip Code shall be five numeric characters and the Zip+4 Code shall be four numeric characters. Where the Zip Code and/or the Zip+4 Code are the same as the previous entry, ditto marks may be used, except that ditto marks may not be used on the first entry of any page. The date of birth shall be inserted as month/day/year. The month, day, and year shall be represented by one or two-digit numbers, respectively, separated by slashes; e.g., February 1, 1950 shall be typed 2/1/50. If the date of birth is not known, year of birth shall be inserted in its place by typing four digits without slashes; e.g., 1950 shall be typed 1950. Not more than eight characters including blanks and slashes shall be inserted into this column. The sex shall be specified by a single character, "M" for male, "F" for female. If the sex is not known, this column shall be blank. Occupation shall be left-justified within the column and shall contain not more than sixteen characters including blanks.
3.6 Any city or town that desires to submit its Special Form in a machine-printed format, as opposed to a typewritten format, may make a written request to the Jury Commissioner for authority to do so on or before the first day of June of each year. The proposed machine-printed list shall contain all of the information required to be inserted on The Form, and it shall substantially the same format as it would have been if typewritten. Enclosed with the letter of request shall be a sample page of the proposed printed list. The Jury Commissioner will grant or deny such request in writing within ten days of its receipt.
Regulation 4 of the Jury Commissioner
Night Shift Workers4.1 A juror's primary obligation is to perform juror service. A juror must be free from compulsory non-jury work assignments insofar as any such assignment might interfere with the juror's availability, effectiveness, or peace of mind. A juror must refrain from any activity which might interfere with his or her effectiveness as a juror. The court will take appropriate action to insure compliance with these principles.
4.2 Applying these principles to night shifts under the One Day/One Trial system, the following policies should apply:
A juror shall not work nor shall he or she be required to work beyond midnight on the day preceding his or her first day of juror service.
A juror selected for a trial shall not work nor shall he or she be required to work a night shift during his or her term of juror service.
A juror may be required to work a night shift on the day on which he or she has been finally been discharged from juror service provided such discharge occurs not later than 4:00 p.m.
4.3 A juror who is duly excused from working because of juror service shall not be released nor penalized by his or her employer because of performing juror service.
4.4 See John Bath & Co., Inc. vs. Commonwealth, 348 Mass 78 (1964) as authority for some of the above policies.
Trial Juror Service Grand Juror Service Federal Juror Service
Navigational Map of this Site
Courthouse Information About the Massachusetts Jury System
The Source List Summonsing to Service
Delinquent Juror Prosecution Program Public Outreach Program
Related Materials Related Links Frequently Asked Questions Go Back to the Home Page