To combat this trend, states are beginning to take a closer look at the Jury Patriotism Act, which is designed to make jury duty more appealing as well as make the penalties for not showing up stiffer.
Current Status
Many Americans regard a summons to jury duty as an inconvenience at best and a financial burden at worse. In most areas, jurors are paid very little, if at all, while they are serving on jury duty. For many this can be a burden, especially in trials that last for extended periods. Others have to use their personal leave or sick leave days to maintain their incomes while serving.Jurors also complain about the lack of flexibility in when they can do their jury service. If the summons comes at the peak of their busy season at work, they have no opportunity to postpone or reschedule their service at a more convenient time.
An American Judicature Society study found that 20 percent of Americans on average fail to report to jury duty when summoned. In some urban areas, fewer than 10 percent of all citizens summoned show up for court when called.
Even when jurors do show up for duty, many are excused because of their professions and many others give false "hardship excuses." In some jurisdictions, this situation has become so pronounced, trials have been delayed or rescheduled and in some areas, judges have ordered deputies to round us "talis" (bystander) jurors, picking people off the street to fill out a jury panel.
Background
The American Legislative Exchange Council has proposed model legislation for state legislators to use as a guideline for passing their own Jury Patriotism Act.The model legislation revamps the current system by providing for the following:
- Imposes higher fines and penalties for jurors who fail to show up. The law makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail.
- Prohibits professional and occupational exemptions to jury service altogether.
- Strengthens the hardship standard to apply only to cases of extreme physical or financial hardship. It offers specific definitions of each and requires documentation of those hardships.
- Creates a "lengthy trial fund," financed by a small filing fee that would allow individuals who risk financial difficulty by serving on a jury to apply to the fund to receive the compensation they would have been paid while working.
- Protects a juror from losing vacation time and sick leave from their employer.
- Allows jurors one automatic postponement to schedule jury service around their personal schedule.
- Limits the service of any juror to one day, or one trial, during any two-year period.
