Federal and state courts in Manhattan have displayed a pattern of discrimination against minorities in the jury selection process, according to a new Citizen Action of New York report.

Caucasians accounted for up 75 percent of all jurors while Asian Americans and African Americans were under-represented relative to their populations, the report said. For Latinos, the situation was even worse, with the smallest jury participation.

The findings were based on the responses of 14,429 potential jurors who came to the state and federal courts in Manhattan between November 2006 and February 2007. The report was released on June 27, in front of the Manhattan federal court.

Whites represent half of New York City’s population, but their jury participation was 75 percent. Asian-American jury participation was 32 percent lower than their population representation. The African-Americans’ participation was 42 percent lower, and Latino participation was 77 percent lower than their population representation.

Pamela Bennett, director of Citizen Action of New York, said that if the United States really wants to carry out justice through its legal system, it is very important to maintain the diversity of the jurors.

To ensure that all the minorities are protected fairly by the law, she added, the elected officials must take actions and monitor the court’s jury selection process.

Bob Cohen, who was in charge of the investigation, said that many minorities were not able to participate fairly in the jury selection process. Therefore, for the victims involved in civil cases, such as those who suffered in medical or work-related accidents, the possibility that they had not received a just verdict was high.

Pei Hu, chair of the Organization of Chinese American’s New York chapter, was present when the report was released to the public. Using the Vincent Chin murder trial, which happened 25 years ago, Hu said that the jury found the two accused Caucasians to be innocent. If the jury had included Asians or other minorities in their selection, the accused may not have been able to escape just punishment.

Hu believes that the lack of diversity in juries has to do with several factors. In addition to the government’s database problems, many immigrants did not register to vote, which results in the scarcity of potential minority jurors.

Bennett said that serving as a juror is the responsibility of a U.S. citizen, so the public should not avoid it.

The report also included suggestions for the government to improve the situation, including extending the database of potential jurors, increasing educational outreach in minority communities, and updating new U.S. citizens’ addresses.