Massachusetts is doing a better job of tracking down jury no-shows, reports the Boston Globe. The paper credits a $1.2 million computer software system that the state Office of the Jury Commissioner installed in 2006. That year, the office mailed 10,983 applications for criminal complaints, officials said. In 2007, the figure jumped to 19,203.
For more than a decade, Massachusetts has quietly cracked down on the tens of thousands of people who shirk jury duty, hauling them into courthouses across the state. The goal, say officials, is not to embarrass or charge them but to prod them to serve. No-shows are subject to misdemeanor charges that carry a fine of up to $2,000.