I know that Jury Duty in the US (across all 50 states) is mandatory for citizens when they’re given a summons (names are selected at random from the electoral roll) and it’s an offense for failing to appear at the appointed date & time (ranges to fines or imprisonment). Usually, the courtroom allocated is based on where you live (i.e. if you reside in Oceanside, CA then the adajcent court is under San Diego) you get the picture.
Have you ever received a summons in the mail? If so, how many people showed up to the courthouse in your area? You bring the summons with you in court (as in the physical form) or show a email from a digital copy. People who also have the summons line up behind and in front of you waiting for each turn at the court clerk asking whether you’re capable of serving a 2-3 week trial or longer (you can apply for excusals).
That is only, if you have evidence to back it up (it varies from caring for an elderly relative, mental illness, physical medical ailments, etc). when wanting to be excused and exemptions apply to certain jobs (member of congress / white house, a DA or attorney, cop / sheriff, active member of the military) & ex-cons who are charged with felonies or related offenses are disqualified from ever being subjected to JD.
Now, if you have waited in the jury panel in court: where your number is picked at random in which if it’s called, you acknowledge your presence (it’s up to lawyers to decide whether you’re designated as a juror). You can’t leave the venue unless you’re told so. If you’ve showed up for JD: have there been cases of people deliberately failing to show up even though it’s mandatory by law to appear (as they received a summons)?
If you managed to wait there the entire duration of the day without being selected, what is the payout like? Is it below or within minimum wage? However, if you have served as a juror: what is the total payout for a trial? Also, are you allowed to discuss the case mentioned outside court or is there a strict NDA (they explicitly say you cannot brag or mention the case on social media or to any other third party).
They normal per diem payment is very low, way below minimum wage. In my jurisdiction in California, there’s some way for low income people to request an extra payment if they had to miss work, but it’s still pretty low.
It’s pretty easy to temporarily get out of jury duty by claiming hardship (you have something else going on). They usually approve such requests and summon you again sometime later. IDK what happens if you keep repeating this.
In practice if you really don’t want to serve, you can answer the questions in a way that make you sound like a biased juror in either direction. I saw a guy do that, basically saying that cops lie all the time (he got dismissed).
Selection often takes longer than 1 day. Last time I got summoned I think I had to show up for 3 or maybe 4 days of preliminaries and jury selection. I got dismissed (thankfully) basically because I was very sleepy on the last day and (unintentionally, I was generally trying to play it straight) gave unfocused answers.
Your summons is a postcard with your juror number on it (8 digits iirc) and you’re supposed to bring it, but if you forget to bring the card, they can find the info for you.
In my jurisdiction the sequence is, a) you get the postcard saying you’re summoned for a certain week (monday thru friday). There’s a phone number you’re supposed to call sunday night, monday night, etc. You enter your juror number and the IVR either says “show up tomorrow” or “don’t show up tomorrow but call again tomorrow night” or (if it’s thursday night) “don’t show up tomorrow, thanks, bye” (in this case you’re off the hook for 1 year). b) In the event they say “show up tomorrow”, 100-200 people show up in a big room with free watery coffee. A few times during the day they will call 50 or so people from the room by juror number and tell them to go to courtroom 3 (or whatever). Anyone who doesn’t get sent to a courtroom gets sent home and is done for the year. I.e. you don’t have to show up to the big room multiple days. c) if you’re sent to a courtroom, you’re in jury selection, which can take multiple days. They select groups of potential jurors to ask questions (voir dire) while everyone else waits around. When they have enough jurors and alternates, anyone left gets sent home. Sometimes they run out of people to question and have to get more from the big room. d) if you’re actually seated on the jury, the trial can potentially go on for months, which sounds awful. Most are quicker than that though. Trials are usually 4 days a week, I think, and they can have breaks in the middle.
During jury selection and trials, there are multiple 15 minute bathroom breaks through the day. The bathrooms on the floor where the courtroom is get crowded during those breaks. The trick at my local courthouse is to use the stairwell to get to a different floor. The other floors’ bathrooms are usually not crowded.
You spend a lot of time in crowded rooms where the air quality is not that great. These days I seriously recommend wearing an N95 respirator the whole time, because of airborne pathogens. I wore one last time as did a few other people (most didn’t) and nobody bothered us about it.
I haven’t yet actually served on a jury but have been summoned multiple times. Usually you get dismissed without entering jury selection, sometimes without even having to show up, as described above. I’ve been in jury selection several times and only in voir dire once.
Wow, that is so much more complicated than jury selection where I live. You should opt out if you know the defendent, but there’s no interrogation.
Here it’s $6 per day. They give you a form with a list of charities and you can choose one to donate your $6 to, or you can ask them to send you a check.
When you get the notice there’s a form to send in (actually i think it’s there’s now a website) to defer your duty if you have young kids, etc.
I’m my old county you were given a date to show up. In my mew county you call each night for a week or two to find out if you have to appear.
When you arrive you go through a metal detector and check in with your name or assigned number. You sit in a room with a couple hundred people. If you’re lucky, there are no cases that day and everyone is dismissed. Normally they go down the docket, calling about 30 people to go to each courtroom. Excess people are dismissed. When you get into the courtroom they go through voir dire, where the lawyers ask jurors questions and dismiss the ones they don’t like. I don’t know what happens after that as i was dismissed after making a joke in response to the lawyers question.