Jury box. Photo: Rick Kopstein / ALM

Californians with felony convictions will be able to serve on juries for the first time next year under legislation signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The "Right to a Jury of Your Peers" law applies to felons who have finished their prison or jail time and are no longer under post-release supervision, including parole and probation. Convicted sex offenders required to register with authorities will remain ineligible for jury pools.

The legislation, authored by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, is an attempt to make California juries more closely reflect the state's racial and ethnic diversity. Thirty percent of black men in California cannot serve as jurors under the state's current lifetime ban on felons, according to Skinner's office.

"It's easy to take for granted the notion of a jury of your peers, but in reality, if you're Black and a man, it's almost impossible," Skinner said in a prepared statement. Senate Bill 310 "rights that wrong by giving those with a former felony conviction the ability to be at the heart of a fair and impartial judicial process."

California had been among more than two dozen states that permanently banned felons from the jury selection process, according to James Binnall, an assistant professor of law and criminal justice at California State University, Long Beach. A dozen other states allow felons to serve on juries post-incarceration, and a handful place restrictions on service based on the category of their conviction or the lengths of prison and jail time they served.

The new law was championed by the ACLU, the California Public Defenders Association and advocates for prisoners and released inmates. The California District Attorney Association dropped its early opposition to Skinner's legislation after the senator eliminated language that would have expanded the data sources courts use to find potential jurors.

SB 310 was one of 25 criminal justice bills signed by Newsom on Tuesday. "People shouldn't have to pay for their mistakes for the rest of their lives," Newsom said in a prepared statement. "A fresh start improves an individual's chances of succeeding and reduces the likelihood of recidivism."