Jury duty is service as a juror in a legal proceeding. When a person is called for jury duty in the United States, that service is compulsory: one must attend or face strict penalties. Employers are not allowed to fire an employee simply for being called to jury duty. (However, they are typically not required to pay salaries during this time.) When attended, potential jurors may be asked to serve as a juror in a trial, or they may be dismissed. See jury selection and Taylor v. Louisiana. Jury duty has been criticized by some libertarian groups as involuntary servitude[1] that is akin to conscription.[2][3] Most regard jury duty as essential to the adminstration of justice, and as such it is considered a condition of US citizenship.
The Supreme Court has held, in Butler v. Perry, 240 U.S. 328 (1916), that the Thirteenth Amendment does not prohibit "enforcement of those duties which individuals owe to the state, such as services in the army, militia, on the jury, etc."
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Government employees are in a paid status of leave (in accordance with 5 U.S.C. ยง 6322 [2]) for the time they spend serving as a juror (also known as court duty or court leave by some organizations). Many quasi-governmental organizations have adopted this provision into their contract manuals. Accordingly, government employees are in a paid status as long as they have received a summons in connection with a judicial proceeding, by a court or authority responsible for the conduct of that proceeding to serve as a juror (or witness) in the District of Columbia or a state, territory, or possession of the United States, Puerto Rico or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Judicial proceeding means any action or suit, including any condemnation, preliminary, informational, or other proceeding of a judicial nature, but does not include an administrative proceeding (a summons or subpoena, to serve as a witness, by an administrative law judge). Administrative proceedings do not have juries; they are not informational or preliminary in nature and the judge makes the ultimate decisions.
Once a potential juror has entered the courthouse, they must fill out a jury questionnaire, which asks about their background. Once the forms are filled out, jurors wait in the juror room until called. Once called, a group of jurors will be escorted to the court room and the judge will begin to call names. The judge and attorneys for each side will use the voir dire, a series of questions, to determine if a juror is acceptable for the case being tried. The prosecutor and defense may dismiss potential jurors for various reasons, which may vary from one state to another, and they may have a specific number of arbitrary dismissals which do not have to be for specific reasons. The judge may also dismiss potential jurors.
Some courts have been sympathetic to jurors' privacy concerns and refer to jurors by number, and conduct voir dire in camera. There have also been Fifth Amendment challenges and medical privacy (e.g., HIPAA) objections to this.[4]
In recent years, citizens of the US have been targets of a "Jury Scam". They are called by someone posing as an officer from a court, claiming that the person did not show up for jury duty and that charges will be pressed.[5] Callers are then told that the matter can be taken care of if personal info is given. However, federal courts in the US mostly use the USPS, and any calls do not require personal info.[6]
Australia uses an adversarial system, and potential jurors are randomly selected from an electoral roll. A guide for jurors in NSW can be found at the Sheriff's Department website here. During the juror selection process, both parties can object to up to three potential jurors without giving reasons. Legislation on NSW jury duty can be found in the 1977 Jury Act here with details of persons who are ineligible and excused found in Schedules 1, 2 and 3.[7]