PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It’s not just snail mail anymore. Now, prospective jurors in Philadelphia can fill out their jury questionnaires online.
The new jury summonses going out this week are postcards — smaller than the previous trifold letters. And, you don’t mail these back.
“You just flip it over and there’s a QR code on there that the juror will scan, and it takes them right to our qualifying questions,” said Philadelphia Jury Commissioner Patrick Martin.
He said it makes communications more efficient. They collect the juror’s information so they can contact them moving forward via email. It could also save the courts about $250,000 a year.
“The postcard costs less to make than a regular summons and the postage on it is less,” Martin noted.
The hope is that an online questionnaire will improve the juror response rate.
If someone is uncomfortable with a QR code, they can always give the courts an old-fashioned phone call.
City mailing jury summonses on smaller postcards with QR codes on them
City mailing jury summonses on smaller postcards with QR codes on them
