Jury duty is a civic duty that all US citizens are expected to do. When you are summoned by the court to serve on a jury, it will decide the outcome of a trial.
Because of the disruption and uncertainty, many people dread being called for jury duty. When you get the summon, you must attend jury selection, during which you may not even be selected. If selected, you must serve for the entire duration of the trial.
It is like being legally obligated to do a one-off full-time job for a few days, earning below the minimum wage. As a juror, you must follow court instructions, listen, and consider all evidence carefully. You must be very present, even if court proceedings are tedious or intimidating. Toward the end, you must deliberate with your fellow jurors on the verdict. Your collective decision will impact the lives of the people (all strangers to you) involved in the case.
Juror pay and other practical matters
You get paid a minimum amount for every day you spend at jury selection and serve as a juror.
The minimum amount varies from state to state. It ranges from $15 to $60 per day.
To get specific details for your state, go to JuryDuty101. Here you can find information on the following:
- Juror pay and possible reimbursements
- Excuses that work or don’t work
- Employer obligations to you while you are serving
- Jury types: the verdict (unanimous or not) expected of the jury
- Information on courthouses in your area
The courthouse provides free meals and refreshments for jurors. If you need help sitting, the court may accommodate your needs.
Do the courts provide free parking?
It depends, but the general answer is no. However, some states reimburse your mileage.
How long does a trial last?
No one can say for sure. Most trials last from a few days to three weeks. Some rare trials, though, may take three to six months. The court will make the necessary arrangements if this occurs.
Does the court provide free meals and accommodation?
The court provides free meals and refreshments; you can also bring your own if you have dietary requirements. For some multi-day trials, the court may also provide accommodation if necessary.
How often would I be called for jury duty?
For some people, never. For some others, maybe once every two years or less frequently.
Is juror pay taxable?
Yes. The IRS considers it taxable income.
Getting selected as a juror
Many factors influence your chance of getting selected. Many of these factors are out of your control.
Getting included on the jury roll
First, a state’s jury roll compiles the names from the driver’s license and voter registration records.
Criteria 1: have a driver’s license
You may not be included in the jury roll if you have no driver’s license.
You would be among roughly 30% of residents who don’t have a driver’s license in 2020, according to Statista.
Criteria 2: registered as a voter of the state you’re living in
Your name will only be on the voter roll if you have registered as a voter. Hence neither would it be on the jury roll.
It also applies to you as a non-citizen (Green Card or temporary visa holder). Note that some municipalities in California and Maryland do allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, so if you have registered for that, you may be summoned, but whether you can serve as a juror (only for citizens) remains doubtful.
Based on these two criteria alone, two to three in ten US adults would only be summoned for jury duty if their names were in the records.
When you satisfy these two criteria, you are more likely to get called for jury selection.
When you are summoned, you must report to court for jury selection. Failure to attend will result in fines or jail time.
Presenting at court
You will receive in advance a notice by mail regarding jury selection. It will be on a weekday, so if you work a regular job, inform your employer.
Your employer must allow you to go without consequences, but depending on the state, they may not have to pay you. Check JuryDuty101 (link above) to see if your employer must pay you.
Many people hate jury duty because they will lose earnings. Some cannot afford to lose any day of work. See how to get out of jury duty below.
Getting to the court may take much work, depending on where you live. You may use it as an excuse if it is inconvenient, but it will likely be deemed insufficient.
Some states limit the maximum distance you have to travel for jury duty. In California, it is within 20 miles of the court. If your residence is outside that perimeter, you may use it as an excuse for dismissal. However, some will have to travel 200 miles in northern Michigan, but you may get free accommodation if chosen (called ‘impaneled’).
At the court, you will wait in a jury assembly room. It is a big room that can hold hundreds of people. Be prepared to wait for a couple of hours.
You are allowed to leave at lunchtime and report back on time afterward.
Most of us detest the waiting. The assembly room could be noisy and uncomfortable, with hundreds of people at a time.
Some states have invested in upgrading their jury assembly rooms. The current amenities allow you to do remote work on a laptop.
The voir dire
You are summoned to a courtroom with several others when it is your turn. Here you will meet the judge, the court clerk, the bailiff, and the lawyers on both sides.
You will fill out a questionnaire and answers questions from the judge and the lawyers.
The questions determine whether you could participate in the trial with impartiality. They are looking for jurors with a fair and open mind who can consider all evidence, then make a careful verdict.
The questions may include the following:
- Do you know anyone involved in the case? It consists of the court staff, the attorneys, the defendants, the plaintiffs, and the witnesses.
- Questions about your sentiment and experience with law enforcement: have you received fair treatment from the justice system? What do you think about the police?
- Your beliefs and understanding of the nature of the case and the law.
If the judge thought you might have a bias or conflict against any side, they would dismiss you.
The lawyers look for people who may favor their side. They may dismiss you if they deem you are different from the type to be easily swayed by their arguments. Reporters, journalists, lawyers, police officers (and other professionals depending on their expertise) have reported that they were rarely chosen as jurors.
Your opinions and expertise may skew the jury’s collective judgment. How? A jury often has to reach a unanimous decision – every view counts. Everyone has to agree on one single verdict. If you were the outlier, you would have to convince the rest to join your side or find a way to agree with them.
Imagine Barack Obama was part of your jury – if he was convinced the defendant was guilty, would it make it easier for you or other jurors to disagree? The weight of his words would be enough to sway many people, and they would not independently consider the case.
It could have been true if Obama had not been dismissed in 2017 when he reported for jury duty at Cook County court.
Likewise, if you have expert knowledge on the subject matter, the lawyers tend to eliminate you to lower the risk of using your expertise to influence the jury. For example, if one key piece of evidence was a breathalyzer test, and you were a chemist who may know a lot about measuring alcohol volume, the lawyer would likely want you off the case.
Another example: if the case was a medical malpractice and you were a doctor who had been successfully sued five times, then the plaintiff’s lawyer would want to prevent you from leading the jury to unfairly favor the doctor in the case by convincing the judge to strike you.
Remember that even if a lawyer favors you, the other lawyer can still remove you. It would help if both lawyers and the judge approved you.
We go deeper into the controversies around jury selection below.
After the voir dire, you will report to the meeting room and await further instructions. You may be called again for another case or be sent home.
Many experienced trial attorneys believe that jury selection is essential to the trial. Law firms hire jury consultants to assist the lawyers in choosing the jurors.
How to get out of jury duty
Jury duty can be tedious and disruptive. If impaneled, you will have to present at court for several weekdays. In the rare unfortunate cases where the trial lasts for weeks or months, you may be sequestered from your daily life to ensure case confidentiality.
Understandably, some of us want to get out of jury duty.
Note that many people still need to be selected. Even if you do, some trials only start weeks or months later.
Before attending jury selection:
Check JuryDuty101 (link above) to see which excuses may work legally for your state.
Note that certain professions are exempt from jury duty. For example, physicians, dentists, nurses, and volunteer firefighters are exempt in Alabama.
You can also write an excuse letter if you are serious about being unable to attend. However, simply submitting a letter does not mean you are excused – this is up to the court to accept it.
At the jury selection:
During the voir dire, when you are asked to state any reason that makes you unfit to serve, you may cite the following:
- Personal connections: know anyone involved in the case
- Care-taking responsibilities (if you are the sole caretaker)
- Financial hardship: can’t afford to lose earnings from missed work
- Physical impediments: can’t sit for hours due to health reasons
- Mental impairments: can’t read, can’t hear clearly
- Language ability: can’t understand English well enough to participate
- Unwillingness
- Personal or work commitments that may cause undue hardship
Many people have reported that these excuses do not work – you still have to serve despite the disruptions and inconvenience. But do try; you may get lucky.
Remember that you have to take an oath to be truthful. Make sure your excuse is valid.
What if none of these excuses work for me?
The last adequate excuse is to prove that you cannot make fair judgments for the case.
To find this excuse, it is helpful to know about the two ways the lawyers can dismiss you:
- Challenge for cause
- Peremptory challenge (challenge without cause)
No matter which type, the dismissals are primarily out of your control. Try your best not to take it personally.
Challenge for cause
The lawyer must convince the judge that you are predisposed by your life experiences to harbor an intractable prejudice against either side of the case. Hence, considering all evidence, you cannot be counted upon to deliver a fair verdict.
The lawyer has to say why they deem you an unfair juror. You should make this easy for them.
Remember, though, that your prejudice must be actual somehow.
A peremptory challenge
Each lawyer is allowed a few times to dismiss potential jurors with just a hunch. They do not need to convince the judge.
When questioned, you may leave the impression that you are not a good choice. But this can be uncertain since the lawyers give no reason why.
Consequences for missing jury duty
JuryDuty101 (link above) has information on the consequences of missing jury duty for each state.
You would likely get a fine of $1000, a few days in jail, or community service.
For those who want to serve on jury duty
Many people want to serve because they believe in a trial by an impartial jury of their peers. They gain satisfaction from fulfilling their civic duties.
Advice for those who want to get selected during the voir dire:
- Give as little information as possible
- Do not volunteer opinions
- Do not show a sense of who you are or your education
- Do not give them any reason to dismiss you
What if you still get dismissed?
Getting dismissed can feel personal or even hurt when you want to serve.
Admittedly, the case may have details that automatically exclude you from the jury, but you are not made privy to it.
Another reason is the lawyers’ strategies. John Oliver of Last Week Tonight has raised an important point: who do we mean by ‘peers’ in “a jury of one’s peers”? Is it the defendant’s peers or the prosecutor’s peers? Fairness is a slippery concept here.
A representative cross-section of the population should form the jury. In other words, the jury should be as diverse as the county’s demographics.
However, in practice, many lawyers look for people who are a clean slate for them to write on. The lawyers want to win the case, so going the extra mile to ensure a diverse and fair trial may not be their top priority.
The problem with jury selection
Jury selection can be controversial, and you are not in control.
People have reported that lawyers tend to get the most favorable jurors, i.e., the ones who are the least thoughtful or informed about the subject matter relevant to the case.
Having expertise or authority on the subject matter would count against you. So if you were a doctor and the case was a robbery with no medical knowledge required, then you have a chance.
Race has also influenced a lawyer’s choice of jury. With a peremptory challenge, they spend seconds dismissing a potential juror. The judge can question their challenge, but if they give any race-neutral reason, such as demeanor or accent, their challenge will be approved.
If you are a minority citizen who relies on public transport, has encountered a problem in registering to vote, or cannot afford to miss work due to a low income, you would have to jump through hoops to even get there for jury selection. Millions of citizens in the same circumstance would also be excluded from this civic experience from the outset.
A lack of jury diversity has hurt minority defendants. Potential biases are inherent in a homogeneous jury. Re-balancing the jury pool with citizens from diverse backgrounds would require reforming the state records and the jury selection process.
Is it time for reform? A multiracial jury has been known to lessen individual biases or prejudices, contributing to a fairer trial. Here is a cause you can get behind.
There are reasons for optimism. The highly publicized trial of Derek Chauvin, the policeman who killed a Black man while on camera, had a racially diverse jury than the county where it was held. Here is an account of the impaneled jurors’ responses during jury selection (no names mentioned). The jurors found the defendant guilty after ten hours of deliberation over two days.
Juror experience in the courtroom
The jury goes through three stages:
- Listen to the trial
- Deliberate among each other to reach a verdict
- Deliver the verdict
The jury decides the outcome of the trial. It gets to say ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty.’ The judge decides on the charges according to the jury’s verdict.
The jury experience often leaves a lasting impression on the jurors. For a few days, they are privy to the confidential details of a case that would bear severe consequences for the lives of the defendants and the plaintiffs in the future.
Hearing the trial
On the days of the trial, you have to arrive on time. You will be seated in the jury box. You are allowed to take notes but not use your phone or the internet.
If you are found using other sources to learn or share any information about the trial before it ends, you will likely be dismissed.
The trial hours are accessible for those who work long hours. The jurors are expected to report at the courthouse at 8:30 am, and the trials start at 9 am. Some jurors said that they got generous lunch breaks, around two hours. In addition, they also took more minor cracks when the judge needed to talk to the lawyers. They went home at around 4 pm every afternoon.
Concern: “I’m worried about getting targeted by bad people.”
Answer: For trials involving gang members with connections from the outside, you can request protection from the court.
The judge may arrange to sequester a jury, but this is costly and inconvenient for you and the court.
Otherwise, from a juror’s experience, their jury was assigned reserved parking spots in a nearby garage. Every afternoon when they left the courthouse, they were escorted by Deputy Sheriffs to their cars. They were each assigned an officer who followed them home and was stationed outside their residences every night until the trial ended.
Deliberation
After the lawyers give their closing speeches, the jury is led into a meeting room to discuss the case. A foreman is designated to take notes and lead the discussion.
It would help if you only considered the facts – you can request transcripts of the testimonies to help yourself sort out the facts from the arguments or opinions.
You can refer to the information presented in court, and only that. You are not allowed to use the internet or outside sources to help you form your judgment.
Be aware of your own implicit bias. There is a reason why the jury should be diverse, so everyone can help each other to reconsider how certain prejudice may distort judgments.
Some trials require the jury to make a unanimous decision. That means everyone has to agree on the verdict, either guilty or not guilty.
If everyone cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge often tells the jury to try harder.
A hung jury
What if the jury cannot make a unanimous decision even after long hours of deliberation? Then this is a hung jury.
A hung jury delivers no verdict, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial. The case has to be tried again with a new jury.
This outcome is undesirable. A juror reported that their deliberation turned into angry arguments that exhausted everyone.
Try to avoid a hung jury, but accept that it happens occasionally.
The members of your jury play a key role here. Some are confident with their judgment and are determined to convert the opponents to their side. Some others do not care as much – they may make careless decisions based on inconsequential details, such as whether the defendant seemed so charming that they could not have committed the crime.
Deliver the verdict
Once the jury has decided, everyone gathers in the courtroom for the verdict.
The foreman hands the verdict to the court clerk, who reads it aloud.
After that, the judge issues the charges based on the jury’s verdict.
It is an unforgettable moment of the entire trial – seeing how your collective decision would bear consequences on both sides.
Is jury duty a worthwhile experience?
Jury duty is a fascinating, memorable, and impactful experience. What happens in court is generally different from their portrayals in the movies. It is where you see justice in action and are a part of it. You and other jurors get to call the shot – the ones who determine the verdict and directly impact other people’s lives.
You would gain insights into the human condition in a high-stake situation. Your hours in the trial are filled with facts, arguments, testimonies, and reactions from people who often have much to lose (or win).
You would also get a glimpse into the psychology of your jury: while all strangers to each other, a group dynamic emerges in which some would dominate, some would follow, and some stand as holdouts against all. It is a journey of learning more about your community and fellow citizens.
Your opinion truly counts. Especially when a unanimous verdict is required, even if you are the only one who thinks differently, the jury is still hung. It may frustrate others, but it also means your vote matters tangibly.
Jury duty is not unique to the USA or a common practice worldwide. The majority of the world’s population does not enjoy this privilege. Enshrined in the Sixth Amendment, it is one of the many rights that set US citizens apart. For many immigrants, receiving the summons for jury duty is one of those momentous moments when they are recognized as a citizen – something they have worked hard for. It will be a waste of your rights if you do not use it when you can.
Pragmatic people may be reminded that getting out of jury duty may incur more trouble than just doing it. And if one day we ended up in the courtroom, we would want an impartial jury to listen to our concerns and make a fair and considered decision that would affect the rest of our lives.
Concerning practical matters, jury duty is most worthwhile when you receive full pay from your employer, keep the court’s stipend, do not mind the commute, and get selected to serve.
If you do not enjoy such luck, then yes, jury duty can become a nuisance. Jury selection can be tedious, and the time away from your daily life may cause disruptions. You may need more trust in the justice system or be unfortunate to have a bad experience with the judge or fellow jurors.
After all, this boils down to personal experience and values. Just like voting or paying taxes, it is part of American life.
Please serve on jury duty when it is your turn
Jury duty is rare when we are called to do something unusual. It is essential to ensure a functional justice system that protects the well-being of our community. Despite the flaws, we have it for now, and reforms are ongoing.
Please serve – the trust in our public institutions builds upon small contributions such as this.
