Does being a college student excuse you from jury duty?

Question

I just got my first jury summons, and I'm not sure if I can write in and tell them that I'm in college to get out of it. Does anyone know?

Answer 1

It depends on the rules in the county you live in. In some counties, you just need to write in and indicate that you can't serve because you are attending college and that will be that. In other counties, they won't fully excuse you from jury duty just because you are a college student, but they will allow you to reschedule your jury duty for the summer. If they do want you to reschedule to the summer, but you are planning to go to summer school, do an internship, travel abroad, etc., it's usually just a matter of explaining this and they will let you off entirely.

Read the summons received carefully to see if you qualify for being excused and what you need to do in order to be excused. Somewhere on the back of the summons, it should explain what categories of people are automatically excused and what you need to do to notify them that you are in one of these categories. There should also be instructions for what to do if you are not automatically excused, but would like to explain why you think you should be excused (i.e. because you are a college student.) Again, it varies from county to county. In some counties, it's a matter of simply writing an explanation of your situation in a space provided on the summons form and sending it back in. In other counties, you do actually have to show up for the first day of jury duty, but on that first day, you'll be given the chance to explain why you can't serve or need a postponement. If it's not clear on the summons form what qualifies you to be excused and what you need to do to notify the court that you'd like to be excused due to your student status, you should call the phone number on your summons forms for the jury commissioner's office and ask someone. What you definitely don't want to do is just throw the summons away assuming that you are excused without taking further action. If you are summoned and fail to respond, in some counties you can get a fine.

Answer 2

Jury Duty College Student

Answer 3

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If you're a full-time college student, you can probably get excused from jury duty, especially if you're going to college out of town. However, you MUST contact the courthouse to explain your situation. Regardless of what you may have been told, simply skipping jury duty will get you in a lot of trouble, such as a heavy fine or jail time.

Answer 4

Call them if you can. Most counties have a clerk that is elected that takes care of this sort of thing. If you attend college out of town I think that's a good excuse. It just depends on how much of a jerk the clerk will be and also how many other people called in with less than true excuses. A lot of people try to get out of jury duty -- but if you can serve do it.

Answer 5

Everybody's answer here is wrong. It depends on what state you live in. Some states let you off entirely; others allow you to postpone until classes are over; others say tough luck. And it also depends on whether it's a federal jury or a state jury. Your jury summons should give you more information about what exemptions are available for your particular summons.

Answer 6

If you can't then just act really predjudiced to any questions they ask you during jury selection. They won't choose you then.

Answer 7

Yes, just make sure you call and explain. Sometimes you'll have to go and bring your course schedule, but it's never a problem.

Answer 8

Yes!
I did this. You tell them you have classes and a schedule. Even send in a xerox of your semester classes if you like. I said I would be happy to serve after the semester.

Answer 9

Hope this helps!

Answer 10

yes fill out the form that you got in the mail and mail it back to them!!