§ 132.010 Composition

A grand jury is made up of seven people picked from the regular pool of jurors called for court duty during that time. These jurors have to meet the same basic qualifications as any other juror in Oregon. Before they start their work, they take an oath promising to look into crimes that happened in their county, or crimes that can be tried there.

The main job of this group is to review evidence and decide if there's enough reason to formally charge someone with a crime. They don't decide guilt or innocence. They just decide whether a case should move forward. If you're ever called to serve on one, know that you're joining six other jurors from your community, and your task is limited to this early screening step in the criminal process.