IDEAS TO INCREASE AWARENESS/IMPACT - PLANNING
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IDEAS TO INCREASE YOUR EVENT’S IMPACT
Keynote Speaker: Invite a person who is organizing around Barbara Lee in your area. Make sure the speaker has a chance to view the film in advance. Check our Resource page for links to other organizations that can help.
Co-Sponsoring Organizations: Include other organizations in your event plans, to broaden your reach and establish new, potentially long-term coalitions.
There are many groups that would make good co-sponsors,. Make sure to include the names and, where possible, logos of your co-sponsors on all print on and on-line materials.
Provide opportunities for co-sponsors to display information about their organizations and relevant initiatives.
Action Steps: Create an email list so you can follow up with attendees. Offer motivated audience members ways they can help or become involved—For example, can they volunteer at a local organization, join a working group, write to representatives, organize an action? Offer specific ideas. Think about giving people something to do immediately (e.g. have postcards available for people to write to legislators, a petition to sign, or a group to join).
Reception: Plan a special meet-and-greet with refreshments to allow opportunities for networking either before or after the screening. Depending on your budget and capacity, this could be open to the public or invite-only.
For on-campus screenings invite departments, research centers, and student organizations to be part of your event. This will increase visibility and help spotlight the issues in the film.
Invite the Filmmakers: Depending on availability, the filmmakers may be able to speak about the film and to lead discussions. For more information about availability and fees, contact abby@socialactionmedia.com.
Judging Juries reveals the barriers to jury service which deprive defendants in criminal cases of juries which represents a cross-section of the community. While there are many issues contributing to the lack of diversity in the jury pool, juror pay is at the top of the list. In California, jurors receive $15 per day for jury duty. In Mississippi, they receive $5 per day and in New York state they receive $40 per day. Clearly, this payment schedule needs to be revised, particularly if jury duty requires the possibility of missed weeks of work without compensation.
Many prospective jurors are not paid by their employers for jury service and therefore face real financial hardship if forced to serve for $15 per day. An innovative program in San Francisco called Be the Jury, which pays jurors $100 per day, has discovered that many more working people and people of color are able to serve as a result of this increase in compensation.
The film looks at the issue of juror pay, the use of peremptory challenges which permit the dismissal of potential jurors for no stated reason and the use of former felony convictions as a bar to jury service. Recent legislation in California is seeking to minimize the negative impact of these obstacles to jury service.
The right to be judged by a jury which reflects a cross-section of the community is a fundamental right, but it requires an understanding by the citizens who are called to serve that this is a duty they should be willing to fulfill. It is our hope that this film will help encourage community members throughout the Bay Area and the State of California to see jury service in a new light—to welcome the call to jury duty and to participate enthusiastically in this very unique experience that has important consequences for the individual on trial and provides jurors with the opportunity to learn from each other as they determine the outcome of the case. Similarly, we hope that other jurisdictions will be motivated by the experience of San Francisco and consider ways to increase juror pay so that more people can afford to serve.