Juries: voir dire: probation officers.

Assembly Member Alanis proposes expanding California's jury selection restrictions to prevent probation officers from participating in voir dire for criminal cases, adding them to the existing list of law enforcement personnel already excluded from such proceedings.

The measure builds upon current jury selection procedures, which prohibit specified peace officers from serving during voir dire in both civil and criminal matters. Under existing law, jury commissioners randomly select potential jurors for courtroom panels, excluding peace officers as defined in several sections of the Penal Code. The new provisions would specifically bar probation officers, as described in Section 830.5(a) of the Penal Code, from voir dire participation in criminal cases while maintaining current restrictions on other law enforcement personnel.

County jury commissioners would continue their established practice of random juror selection while implementing the additional exclusion criteria. The measure requires no new appropriations and establishes no additional oversight mechanisms beyond existing administrative procedures.