Jury duty
Jury duty is a civic responsibility in which ordinary citizens participate in the judicial process by serving as jurors in court trials. This role is both a privilege and a duty, as juries play a crucial part in ensuring justice within the American legal system. The jury selection process begins with the qualification of potential jurors, typically sourced from voter-registration lists and supplemented by other public records. Those qualified are randomly selected and summoned to serve, with legal obligations to appear in court.
Individuals may be excused from jury duty for various reasons, including medical, family, or financial hardships, and certain public officials and military personnel are exempt from service. Once in court, jurors undergo a process called voir dire, where attorneys assess their impartiality and ability to fairly judge the case before them. The incidence of jury trials has significantly declined in recent decades due to factors like high costs and pressures to settle, with only a small percentage of cases reaching the jury stage. Understanding the intricacies of jury duty can help individuals navigate their responsibilities if summoned.
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Jury duty
SIGNIFICANCE: Because jury service entrusts ordinary citizens with the responsibility of decision making, it is the most direct means through which ordinary citizens can participate in the judicial process.
Juries play a critical role in the American system of justice, and service as a juror is considered both a duty and a privilege. The selection process begins with juror qualification, which is initiated when local court administrator offices mail out questionnaires requesting the information necessary to determine whether recipients are qualified to serve as jurors. The traditional sources for selecting names for jury pool have been voter-registration lists. However, many jurisdictions supplement those lists with other source lists, such as telephone directories, tax-assessment rolls, censuses, and lists of licensed drivers. When recipients complete and return the questionnaires, the court administrators eliminate those who are unqualified. For example, some jurisdictions require that jurors understand English or that they have not been convicted of felonies.
After pools of qualified prospective jurors are determined, the next phase involves the random selection of names to whom are sent summonses for jury service. Random selection is important to ensure racial, ethnic, gender, and economic diversity in the pools. When summoned, recipients receive instructions as to where and when to appear for service. Persons summoned for jury duty have a legal duty to report. Failure to do so can, in some cases, result in arrest or fines.
Certain persons may be excused from jury duty. For example, federal law exempts public officials and police and fire department employees. Many states excuse persons in active military service or those who have recently served as jurors. In addition, it is possible to be excused from service, or have service postponed, for reasons of family, medical, or financial hardship. Written requests and proof are required to support such excusals or postponements.
The selection of jurors for trials begins when panels of prospective jurors are called into courtrooms and sworn to answer truthfully questions posed by the attorneys about their qualifications to hear and decide the cases. This questioning process, known as voir dire, is done to ensure that the only jurors selected are those who have no conflicts of interest or biases that might compromise their ability to render fair and impartial verdicts.
Attorneys representing opposing sides in cases may challenge the ability of individual panel members to serve on juries. A person may be challenged for cause if the voir dire examination reveals a possible prejudice against one of the parties. In addition, each party has a right to a limited number of peremptory challenges for which no explanations need be given. Those not eliminated through use of these challenges are seated as jurors to hear the cases. Additional panelists are reserved as alternate jurors in case any of the seated jurors must be excused due to illness or other reasons during the course of the trials.
Several studies have shown that the number of juries seated for trial has dramatically decreased in the twenty-first century. From 1962 to 2013, jury trials fell from 5.5 percent of all court cases that went to trial to 0.8 percent. Only 2 percent of federal trials made it to the jury stage in 2020. Numerous factors have contributed to the decline, including the cost of a jury trial, mandatory sentencing guidelines, and the pressure to settle cases from defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges.
Bibliography
Abramson, Jeffrey. We, the Jury: The Jury System and the Ideal of Democracy. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2000.
Evans, Emanuella. "Jury Trials Are Disappearing. Here’s Why." Injustice Watch, 17 Feb. 2021, www.injusticewatch.org/criminal-courts/2021/disappearing-jury-trials-study/. Accessed 8 July 2024.
Ferguson, Andrew G. Why Jury Duty Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Constitutional Action. New York: NYU Press, 2012.
Jonakait, Randolph N. The American Jury System. New Haven: Yale UP, 2003.
"Jury Service." United States Courts, www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/jury-service. Accessed 8 July 2024.
Schwartz, Victor E., et al. Safeguarding the Right to a Representative Jury: The Need for Improved Jury Service Laws. Washington, DC: National Legal Center for the Public Interest, 2003.
Stanley, Jacqueline. Jurors’ Rights. Naperville: Sourcebooks, 1998.