A Primer on Jury Selection

If you live in any state county long enough, odds are you will one day receive a jury summons in the mail. If it’s your first time, and you’re not involved in the legal system, you’ll probably have a few questions. This post is intended as a handy primer to explain how you got chosen and what happens next.

The Jury Selection Process

First, you received a summons because your name was randomly selected from a master list of names compiled by state and local governments from a combination of the registered voters and licensed drivers lists. Random selection means that your name had an equal chance of being chosen among all the other names on the list. This procedure, and all other procedures relating to jury selection, is conducted without reference to the race, creed, gender, color, national origin, or economic status of the individual. Unless you are specifically excused from service, the summons requires your live, physical appearance in Court at the summoned date and time.

From there, the Court conducts a more particular screening of each member of the community summoned for jury duty – including you. That screening typically happens in two phases. Phase one is focused on determining that each member is legally eligible to serve – meaning they are:

• at least eighteen years old,
• a resident of the county from which they receive the summons,
• physically and mentally able to render satisfactory service,
• able to communicate in the English language (sign language included), and
• Not disqualified from service by having served as a petit, grand or magistrate court juror within the previous two years; lost the right to vote because of a criminal conviction; or, been convicted of perjury, false swearing, or other serious crime.

Phase two involves answering questions posed by the Court, typically through the presiding judge and the lawyers) relevant to your background, experience, connections with participants in the trial, and strongly held beliefs, among other relevant, case-specific issues.  Everyone in the courtroom understands that not everyone summoned in the community is the right person for that particular service at that particular point in their life. That is A-OK. Phase two focuses on having a candid discussion with the jurors about the hardships imposed by the summons, issues you just can’t get past to remain impartial until you have received all of the evidence, or other issues that make it difficult for you to serve in that particular case is what Phase Two seeks. Typically, a smaller number of jurors is selected and questioned in the jury box while the remaining summoned community members sit in the courtroom and listen to the questions in case they are called to the jury box to replace a juror who is removed.

You may have been called to serve in either a criminal case, involving the potential loss of another’s freedom and liberty, or a civil case involving money damages or some court-ordered action or prohibition. Either way, the process outlined here is the same.

Jury Duty Is a Great Service to Our Country and Local Community

Jury service is one of the most important duties you, as an American community member, can perform for your home and your country. Juries decided important issues involving harm done to people just like themselves and by doing so, juries set the standards on how their communities can safely and soundly prosper. To serve on a jury is to look out for your entire community, including your family, friends, co-workers, and yourself, and to promote safety and prosperity.  That we can have such a direct impact on our community through our service as jurors is a precious right that one can be proud to support.