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).
So it is very dependent on your location with the exception of Federal jury duty which is pretty consistent. If you are out of state for school you can get an automatic exemption for that since I was selected in college once and didn’t need to show up.
I was called for county civil court a couple years ago. You get a letter with a phone number to call the night before to see if you need to show up. If you do then you park downtown/take the bus/etc and bring your letter (and usually a book or something else to do for the day). You sit in a large room with about 50-100 people where you get checked in by a clerk where you get a number (usually alphabetical by last name) . A judge comes in around 9am and tells everyone how important it is, thanks you for showing up and explains the process. We did have a handful of folks show up late due to issues with the light rail that morning which were allowed. The list of no shows was provided to the sheriff to issue fines after a certain point.
We then got a paper questionnaire to complete to help speed up voir dire and handed them in to the clerk, each had our juror selection number on it. Then you wait. The room had a small breakroom like area connected to it with tables, vending machines, and water fountains as well as restrooms for potential jurors to use throughout the day. We weren’t allowed to leave the room at all during this time.
After the attorneys finished reviewing papers we were called in groups of about 20 to walk to the courtroom for interviews. We were verbally asked at that point if there was a reason we could not serve for the case which was expected to take less than a week. Reasons were written down but no excuses were given at this point.
After the interview you went back and waited. At lunch you were permitted to leave for an hour and had to check in when you returned. Around 3pm they called numbers of who was selected and 2 alternates (I was the second alternate). Everyone else was dismissed and we were walked back to the courtroom to talk with the judge. He told us when to show up the following day and again thanked us for serving.
The pay for my state is only milage travelled and for the selection day and 3 days of trial was something like $25 total which didn’t even cover parking for me. It’s set by the state and there hasn’t been a push to update it. The judge did order lunch for all the jurors during the deliberation time (which was about an hour, I think so everyone could eat, I wasn’t in the deliberation room as an alternate but it was a really clear case).
We were told not to talk about the trial to anyone while it was ongoing. Even family or friends less it influence our judgement. Afterwards we were told it was up to us if we discussed it with anyone, we didn’t have to but were allowed. The attorneys both asked for some feedback on how they did which I provided to hopefully help them get better.