They sound utilitarian in sec. 23.202 of the Government Code. The legislature must have thought so, since it mandated their use in sec. 23.203. Yet, I have never seen one. So someone who has experience with the uniform juror handbook, what is your opinion of them? Should I encourage my judge (district clerks) to start distributing them, or am I better off without them? My judge gives the instructions contained in Tex.R.Civ.P. 226a. I guess no one in our district has heard of the handbooks, yet.

On this topic, what are some opinions about the "new" uniform juror information cards? Do they represent an improvement? Does anyone miss information about religious preference (assuming such inquiry was formerly made in your county) or other things? I remember the topic of jurors hiding disqualifying facts was discussed on the forum some time ago, so I hope I'm not treading over old ground.

Which brings me to another topic. Lots of things are archived on this site, but apparently topics from this board are merely sent to the recycle bin after about a month of inactivity. Now that is an appropriate place for a lot of stuff, but I have also found some things disappeared that I wished I could get still get to. Thus, I have started saving some selected information from these discussions to my word processor. Anyone else feel this way, or have a better idea on how to preserve those topics that you think will remain relevant to your practice?

we could always start archiving the good ones...like the one involving "wayne" as a middle name being an indicator of a criminal lifestyle. Well, maybe not that one....

The new cards do not ask the juror's religion, which can tell you a lot. But perhaps that opinion is not Politically Correct. If so, please accept my apologies.

I don't think I've ever seen the juror handbook. In New Mexico, a jury panel is called for 6 mos. Every time you have a jury trial, you would see the same venire panel. If there were a lot of trials in that 6 mos., by the end of their term you would have some experienced jurors. That is bound to help the cause of justice. Also, before they started their service, panel members were asked to check out a video that explained their service. This seems to be one of the few good ideas N.M. has in criminal justice.