A New Yorker’s guide to jury duty

New Yorkers receive letters in the mail every few years from their local commissioner of jurors summoning them to state court for jury duty. The notice can evoke a sense of dread for some people, followed by a series of questions: Will I get in trouble for missing work? Do I need to call a babysitter? What if I don’t feel capable of serving on a jury?

Gothamist has the answers to some of the most common questions about state jury service.

What is jury duty?

Jury duty is a central tenet of American democracy, with roots in the country’s founding documents. The U.S. Constitution guarantees anyone accused of a crime “the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury” in the place where the crime occurred. In criminal cases, a jury’s job is to listen to all the evidence and decide whether prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of a crime. In civil trials, jurors decide whether someone who has been sued is liable — in other words, whether they are responsible for harming another person or entity — based on a preponderance of the evidence.

If the jury can’t reach a verdict, the case may be tried again.

What should I expect if I’m summoned to court?

While the process is fairly standardized in New York state courts, the logistics vary somewhat from county to county, so you should refer to the information on your summons or check in with your local commissioner of jurors. In Queens, for instance, potential jurors who receive a summons are asked to call the court over the weekend and find out whether they’ll be needed on Monday. If not, then they’re supposed to keep calling every night for one week. If they still haven’t been called by Friday, then they’re off the hook.

If you are actually called into court, your summons should provide contact information for an official who will tell you where to go and what time you should be there. Make sure you check the address of the courthouse, as each borough has more than one.

After you go through security and check in, you’ll attend a brief orientation, during which you’ll watch informational videos about jury service and the court system. Then, you might be called into a courtroom for jury selection, known more formally as “voir dire.” This is when attorneys (and sometimes judges) ask potential jurors questions to determine whether they can be impartial. For example, in a shooting murder case, attorneys may ask if any potential jurors have lost a loved one to gun violence. In a civil trial about sexual harassment in the workplace, lawyers may question whether anyone in the room has been harassed by a co-worker.

Lawyers can block a certain number of people from serving on a jury if they believe they can’t be fair. But attorneys are prohibited from discriminating against potential jurors based on their race, gender, religion or other protected traits.

Queens County Commissioner of Jurors Audrey Pheffer said the goal is for people to spend just one day in court if they’re not selected to serve on a jury and the duration of one trial if they are chosen.

I’ve heard jury duty is a total drag. Is that true?

Three decades ago, even New York state's top judge considered jury duty to be a bit of a drag. A 1994 New York Times story describe, dirty deliberation rooms, “snappish” court employees and lengthy terms of service that often wasted potential jurors’ time.

But Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye overhauled the system that year. She promised shorter jury service stints, recruited people sentenced to community service to help clean courthouses, implemented new training that taught court employees to be more polite and started tracking potential jurors’ races and ethnicities.

"We cannot ask jurors to perform their civic responsibility in dilapidated surroundings using outmoded procedures," Kaye said when she announced the changes, according to the Times.

Stephen Fiala, commissioner of jurors in Richmond County, said he remembers sitting in a dingy basement that lacked enough seats and watching talk shows on rollout TVs when he served as a juror in the 1980s. As New York marks 30 years since jury reform, he said, both the environment and the procedures are more modern (he noted that there’s WiFi in the jury room on Staten Island now).

Pheffer said most people who are called for jury service are pleasantly surprised.

“Not all the time are people happy to come to jury service,” she said. “But once they're there and they realize why they're there and they see the films and they understand their role, they're not so angry.”

What happens if I’m not available? Or if I just don’t want to show up?

If you know ahead of time that you won’t be available for your jury duty service date, you can let court officials know either by using this online form or by calling 800-449-2819. They will help you postpone your date or can excuse you if you’re medically or financially unable to serve.

If you simply don’t come to court, Fiala said, you’ll get a second chance and a summons for a new date. If you miss that date, too, then you’ll be considered a “noncompliant juror” and could be required to pay a fine or be held in contempt of court, he said.

While officials say it's very rare for people to skip out on jury duty these days, Fiala said people sometimes still try to avoid it. He and other court officials keeps a list of some of the most outlandish excuses people have given over years to try to get themselves out of jury duty, including:

• “Can’t serve because my skin burns off monthly.”
• “My neighbor steals my mail, so I don’t get any notices to serve.”
• “I am in a relationship and can’t do two things at once.”

Can my boss penalize me for missing work?

No. New York prohibits employers from punishing or firing employees who miss work for jury duty, as long as they notify someone ahead of time. New Yorkers also get paid while on jury duty. Depending on the type of job and pay, some workers will continue to receive payments from their employers. Others will get $40 per day from the state. A measure pending in the Legislature would increase the daily pay for jurors to $72.

Who is eligible to serve on a jury?

Potential jurors must be at least 18 years old, U.S. citizens and residents of the county where they received their jury summons. They are also required to understand English.

People with felony convictions are barred from serving on a jury in New York, unless they have a certificate of good conduct. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit in 2022 challenging the ban, arguing that it violates the Constitution and disproportionately affects Black residents.

How do the courts decide who to call for jury duty?

New York state draws its jury pool from five public databases that include a wide swath of the state’s population: the Department of Taxation and Finance (people who pay taxes), the Department of Labor (people who receive unemployment payments), the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (people who receive public assistance), the Department of Motor Vehicles (people with driver’s licenses), and the Board of Elections (registered voters).

Officials determine who is eligible for jury duty by mailing out questionnaires, using names drawn from the state’s five source lists. Then, a machine randomly selects a group from those deemed eligible to serve. Anyone from that group can be called in for jury duty for up to 18 months after they’re selected. After those 18 months are up, the state won’t call them again for several years (the number depends on what county someone lives in and how busy the local court system is).

Does it matter whether it’s a diverse jury pool?

Fiala said New York pulls from so many source lists in hopes of recruiting the most diverse juries possible.

“The broader reach, the better pool you have,” he said. “The better pool you have, the more enlightened jury you have, because when those six or eight or 10 or 12 people are in a deliberation room alone, think about the perspective that they're bringing.”

A 2006 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that racially diverse juries assess evidence more thoroughly and deliberate for longer. And a 2012 study found that all-white jury pools convict Black defendants at higher rates. New Yorkers who come to court for jury service are now required to watch an educational video about implicit bias, which warns potential jurors against falling prey to stereotypes as they review the evidence in a case.

You can find more information about jury duty at nyjuror.gov.