Neat product. But it doesn't replace the need for the "10 minute phone calls" since they cannot legally require potential Jurors to have a smartphone or justify dismissing them if they don't.
So ultimately all you've done is double some court clerk's work to now update both the calls and app API.
Plus I have a bunch of security/privacy questions relating to this. If you allow people to get Jury info before they first appear, then anyone also can. If you don't then what good is it? So is there now the work of sending out passwords to all potential Jurors?
I guess I just struggle seeing a really technophobic court system adopting this. I also see it being a lot of additional work for them, with the pay off being, what? Making the Juror's life easier? But you are "selling" this to the courts, they seem to gain nothing and lose a lot.
If you really believe more people will turn up because there is an app and password, you'll have to explain how that works. Seems like you've just added more steps, and I also doubt the "10 minute phone calls" at the primary thing driving people away from Jury duty.
Much and truly thanks for providing some thoughtful feedback. As someone who personally felt the pain from the juror perspective, I actually had no idea about the pains felt by court administrators. The courts we've been working with in determining our MVP are extremely interested in what Jurymind provides as far as a way to more conveniently connect with jurors. They recognize people don't want to do jury duty, and that manifests in many ways. Anything they can do reduce friction communicating is a welcome tool. If a court can save 5 jurors a month from becoming no shows, that's worth the time and expense. A smaller county can easily send summonses to over 500 potential jurors per month. With no show rates averaging in the 30-40%range, we see a compelling opportunity.
Jury clerks certainly don't want more work, either... Who does? Our process has boiled it down to just a few clicks to send out notifications to any jurors using the app. That's a mere fraction of the time it takes just to record the daily phone message, even if it's done in one take (rare). Having shown our app to a room full of jury clerks, including some voicing concerns about more workload, they were adequately impressed with the easy of use. Some were downright excited.
Privacy is another very obvious area of concern. We actually neither store nor require any personally identifiable juror information. At most, we ask for a juror number from the summons and name of the court. No other info or even password needed. We're ultimately not providing jurors with more confidential information than any person - juror or otherwise - could get by dialing the jury "hotline" and listening to the extremely verbose recording every day. Our objective is to provide it in a much more proactive, clear, and convenient fashion.
Final thought... Courts are already well underway in converting to paperless records and court management software, so technophobia isn't really an option any more. State and federal grants are available for adding innovative technologies into the justice system. Not saying every court is or will go this route, but we're also not pioneering computer use in the courts with our app. They've already embraced it more than I would have thought myself.
Again, much thanks for engaging! I'd be most curious to hear how the added info might affect your thoughts. Feel free to continue here or drop me a line privately.
So ultimately all you've done is double some court clerk's work to now update both the calls and app API.
Plus I have a bunch of security/privacy questions relating to this. If you allow people to get Jury info before they first appear, then anyone also can. If you don't then what good is it? So is there now the work of sending out passwords to all potential Jurors?
I guess I just struggle seeing a really technophobic court system adopting this. I also see it being a lot of additional work for them, with the pay off being, what? Making the Juror's life easier? But you are "selling" this to the courts, they seem to gain nothing and lose a lot.
If you really believe more people will turn up because there is an app and password, you'll have to explain how that works. Seems like you've just added more steps, and I also doubt the "10 minute phone calls" at the primary thing driving people away from Jury duty.