A bill moving through the state house could drastically change New Jersey's future jury pool social justice Advocates are urging lawmakers to pass legislation allowing people with criminal convictions to serve out their civic obligation the Garden State is one of just a handful in the country that bans anyone who's been convicted of an indictable offense from jury duty for life as senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports the move still faces a number of hurdles I can vote you in office but I can't cast a vote in a jury room because of a past criminal conviction currently in New Jersey we have a lifetime ban for jury service eligibility for anyone with a prior conviction and what that amounts to is about 7% of the entire New Jersey population but also 23 to 29% of all black new jerseyans can never serve on a jury Emily Schwarz at the New Jersey Institute for social justice is leading a coalition of 52 New Jersey organizations calling on the legislature to pass a bill that would allow anyone with a previous criminal conviction who serve their time to be eligible for jury service we know that the criminal legal system disproportionately affects black and brown individuals in New Jersey but what we're seeing with by having a lifetime ban is that it's whitewashing our jury pools this bill does two really great things one it allows more people in the Jury Room it allows the jury process to continue as it always has through Vader jury selection means can someone be fair and impartial and that's an individual Case by case thing it also reminds our individuals who have served their time completed their sentences that they have another reminder that they are back in our community either what we're doing in our in our department of corrections is working or it isn't and if it isn't working why are we still funding it right are people coming back coming home rehabilitated ready to re-engage and trans that have transformed their life or done the work to transform their lives to get back into society and to participate in every phase of it um Civic engagement is a critical component Anton Henshaw was convicted of homicide 3 months after his 18th birthday in 1989 he served 30 years in prison and since his release launched the transformative Justice initiative so if we're always going to begin at that moment I've never had a criminal past before then since then served 30 years I'm home I'm doing well I'm flourishing I'm helping people I graduate with my master's degree in a couple of weeks like when do I get to be a human being and when do I have to stop answering for something that happened 36 years ago I'm always made to answer for the worst thing that ever happened in my life but that might be fair says Senator John bramnick who's running for governor in 2025 and is strongly opposed to the bill as it's written right now there are certain violent crimes that you're going to pay a long-term price for and that price might be for life when it comes to sitting on a jury he says he'd be supportive of the bill if it was modified to include only nonviolent offenders who've gone several years without reoffending this statute that been proposed would allow somebody who committed child abuse rape murder to sit on a jury why would you expect them to follow the law when the judge says you know here's the law you have to follow it if you didn't follow it and you were a violent criminal you shouldn't be sitting on a jury there are consequences for really bad acts a previous version of the bill that had removed violent offenders did move through the assembly Committee in the last session but died in the lame dock advocacy groups are pushing for no jury restrictions for anyone who served their time I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight news [Music]