Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

fair-cross-section requirement

Constitutional law. The principle that a person's right to an impartial jury, guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, includes a requirement that the pool of potential jurors fairly represent the composition of the jurisdiction's population. ( The pool of potential jurors need not precisely match the composition of the jurisdiction. But the representation of each group must be fair, and there may not legally be a systematic exclusion or underrepresentation of any group. A minimal disparity in a particular group's representation, such as an absolute disparity of 10%, will not ordinarily violate this principle unless some aggravating factor exists. See DUREN TEST; ABSOLUTE DISPARITY; COMPARATIVE DISPARITY; STATISTICAL-DECISION THEORY.