The older you are, the more likely you are to associate jury duty with being a good citizen. It’s a duty that many older adults embrace, but research suggests that many younger adults dread getting a call up and will try their best to avoid it.
The truth is, serving on a jury doesn’t really make you a good citizen and refusing to serve doesn’t make you a bad one. It’s entirely up to you. If you have the time, mobility, and mental health needed to sit through a long court case, you may choose to accept your duty and wear it like a badge of honor. If not, the system allows you to excuse yourself.
In fact, many US states will allow you to excuse yourself based purely on your age, although you are not automatically exempt.
Senior Jury Duty Exemption
From the age of 65 to 80, depending on where you live, you may be able to excuse yourself. This is not true for all states, and there are other exemptions to consider.
- Alabama: Excused at age 70.
- Alaska: Excused at age 70.
- Arizona: Excused at age 75.
- Arkansas: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify.
- California: Excused at age 70.
- Colorado: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify.
- Connecticut: Excused at age 70.
- Delaware: Excused at age 70.
- Florida: Excused at age 70.
- Georgia: Excused at age 70.
- Hawaii: Excused at age 80.
- Idaho: Excused at age 70.
- Illinois: Excused at age 70.
- Indiana: Excused at age 75
- Iowa: Excused at age 70
- Kansas Excused at age 70
- Kentucky: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify
- Louisiana: Excused at age 70
- Maine: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify
- Maryland: Excused at age 70
- Massachusetts: Excused at age 70
- Michigan: Excused at age 70
- Minnesota: Excused at age 70
- Mississippi: Excused at age 65
- Missouri: Excused at age 75
- Montana: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify
- Nebraska: Excused at age 65
- Nevada: Excused at age 70
- New Hampshire: Excused at age 70
- New Jersey: Excused at age 75
- New Mexico: Excused at age 75
- New York: Excused at age 70
- North Carolina: Excused at age 72
- North Dakota: Excused at age 72
- Ohio: Excused at age 75
- Oklahoma: Excused at age 70
- Oregon: Excused at age 70
- Pennsylvania: Excused at age 75
- Rhode Island: Excused at age 70
- South Carolina: Excused at age 65
- South Dakota: Excused at age 80
- Tennessee: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify
- Texas: Excused at age 70
- Utah: Excused at age 70
- Vermont: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify
- Virginia: Excused at age 70
- Washington: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify
- West Virginia: Excused at age 70
- Wisconsin: No specific exemptions for seniors. Everyone over 18 can qualify
- Wyoming: Excused at age 72
Other Jury Duty Exemptions
If you are on active duty in the armed forces, are a member of the emergency services, or you’re engaged in full-time public duties, you are automatically excused. The 94 federal courts can assign their own additional exemption rules, some of which may apply to seniors. They include:
- Having a limited proficiency in English
- Having not lived in the district for at least 1 year
- Having certain mental health issues
- Having severe mobility problems
- Having been convicted of a felony
Consult your local court rules for further information and to determine whether or not the exemptions apply to you.
Do Federal Jurors Get Paid?
You will be paid for your services as a juror, but don’t expect to take home a lawyer’s salary. Jurors are offered just $50 a day, and this increases to $60 for cases that last over 10 days. Most trials run for just a few days, but some high-profile cases can run for much longer.
Odds of Being Called up for Federal Jury Duty
If you compare the total number of federal jurors to the total US adult population, the odds of you being called for jury duty in a single year are very small. However, it’s worth noting that many of those adults will be automatically exempt from duty and others may excuse themselves based on age, illness, and other factors.
All things considered, around 0.09% of the population will be called and 0.02% will actually go on to serve. This means you have 1 in 5,000 chance of serving on a jury during any given year.
To put that into perspective, it’s often said that you have a 1 in 160 chance of being audited by the IRS and a 1 in 500 chance of being born with 11 fingers or toes. Of course, these odds apply for every year so they drop over your lifetime, but the probability is definitely not in your favor if you’re hoping for jury duty selection.
Another interesting statistic to consider is that older juries are more likely to convict. It’s a stereotype that has existed for many years, but it’s also backed by research. One large study found that juries with an average age of 50+ convicted 79% of the time compared to 68% for a jury with an average age of less than 50.
Watch Out for Jury Duty Scams
Scammers will try anything, and in recent years they have used uncertainty and fear as weapons in tax-based and jury-based scams. They will contact a victim claiming to be from the IRS or the federal government and demand money or confidential information, threatening them with arrest and fines if they don’t comply.
Where jury scams are concerned, criminals may request bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, and other sensitive information over the phone or by email.
A real request will never solicit this information and will almost always be conducted through regular US mail. You will not be asked to provide your Social Security number over the phone and will never need to give your credit card number or bank account details.
The scammer may insist that they need this information to send you money or confirm your identity, in which case you should hang up.