How does jury duty work?

#Two kinds of juries

• Grand jury. A federal grand jury has 16 to 23 members and hears evidence from a prosecutor in criminal matters only. It looks for probable cause, and at least 12 jurors must concur to indict. Proceedings are private. Federal grand jurors generally serve up to 18 months, which a judge can extend to 24, and they consider multiple cases.
• Trial jury. Also called a petit jury, it decides criminal and civil cases and has 6 to 12 members. A federal criminal jury has 12 members unless the parties agree otherwise with the court’s approval, and its verdict must be unanimous. A federal civil verdict must be unanimous unless the parties agree otherwise. Trial jurors hear at most one case.

#What the Constitution requires

The Fifth Amendment requires a grand jury’s presentment or indictment for a “capital, or otherwise infamous crime,” with exceptions for military cases. The Sixth Amendment gives the accused a public trial by “an impartial jury” in criminal prosecutions, and the Seventh preserves a jury in “Suits at common law” over $20.

Not all of this binds the states. Duncan v. Louisiana (1968) applied the criminal jury right to state courts for serious crimes, and the lead opinion in Baldwin v. New York (1970) said no offense is petty for this purpose when more than six months in prison is authorized. Hurtado v. California (1884) let a state start a prosecution without a grand jury. As of McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), the Court had not applied the grand jury requirement or the Seventh Amendment to the states.

#How federal courts choose jurors

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1861, jurors are to be “selected at random from a fair cross section of the community.” Each federal district court adopts a written plan. All courts use state voter lists, and some add sources such as lists of licensed drivers. To qualify, a person must be a US citizen, at least 18 and a resident of the district for a year, and must read, write, understand and speak English. Federal law also disqualifies people who cannot give satisfactory service because of a mental or physical infirmity, and people with a pending charge or conviction for a crime punishable by more than a year in prison, unless their civil rights have been restored. Active-duty military, police and fire department members, and public officers actively engaged in official duties are exempt.

In court, the judge and lawyers question prospective jurors, a process called voir dire. Lawyers may also remove a set number without giving a reason, using peremptory challenges. Each party in a federal civil case has 3. In a federal felony case that does not involve the death penalty, the government has 6 and the defense has 10. Batson v. Kentucky (1986) bars prosecutors from using these challenges solely because of a juror’s race.

#An example: Taylor v. Louisiana

Louisiana once barred a woman from being selected for jury service unless she had filed a written declaration that she wanted to serve. Billy Taylor, a man, was convicted by a jury drawn from a panel with no women, in a judicial district where women were 53 percent of the citizens eligible to serve. On January 21, 1975, the Supreme Court reversed. It held that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments require a jury pool drawn from a fair cross section of the community, and that women as a class could not be excluded or given automatic exemptions based solely on sex if the result was jury pools that were almost all male.

#How states differ

• Size: Williams v. Florida (1970) upheld Florida’s six-member jury in a state robbery trial. Ballew v. Georgia (1978) held that a five-member criminal jury is too small.
• Unanimity: Louisiana and Oregon long allowed convictions on 10–2 votes. Ramos v. Louisiana (2020) ended that for serious offenses.

Other details vary by state as well, including who qualifies, juror pay and the penalty for skipping a summons.