---
title: "Jury duty is rare, but most Americans see it as part of good citizenship"
description: "The chances of serving on a jury in any given year are small, but most Americans still see it as part of being a good citizen."
date: "2017-08-24"
authors:
  - name: "John Gramlich"
    job_title: "Associate Director, Short Reads"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/john-gramlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/08/24/jury-duty-is-rare-but-most-americans-see-it-as-part-of-good-citizenship/"
categories:
  - "Criminal Justice"
  - "Democracy"
  - "Political & Civic Engagement"
---

# Jury duty is rare, but most Americans see it as part of good citizenship

[![Most Orthodox Christians say homosexuality should be discouraged by society, oppose same-sex marriage](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/FT_17.11.08_Orthodox_MostOrthodox.png?w=188)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/FT_17.11.08_Orthodox_MostOrthodox.png)

[![(Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/FT_17.08.23_juryDuty_featured.jpg)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/08/24/jury-duty-is-rare-but-most-americans-see-it-as-part-of-good-citizenship/ft_17-08-23_juryduty_featured/)
*(Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)*

[![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/08/FT_17.08.23_juryDuty_demographic.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/08/24/jury-duty-is-rare-but-most-americans-see-it-as-part-of-good-citizenship/ft_17-08-23_juryduty_demographic/)

The chances of serving on a jury in any given year are small, but most Americans still see it as part of being a good citizen.

In an [April Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2017/06/28/public-supports-aim-of-making-it-easy-for-all-citizens-to-vote/), two-thirds of U.S. adults (67%) said serving on a jury “is part of what it means to be a good citizen.” Just 31% took the opposite view and said jury duty service “does not have much to do with being a good citizen.”

Majorities in most demographic groups connect jury duty service with good citizenship, but younger people, racial and ethnic minorities and those without a college education are less likely to do so.

For example, only half of those ages 18 to 29 say jury service is part of being a good citizen, compared with seven-in-ten or more in older age groups. Blacks and Hispanics are less likely than whites to see jury duty as a part of good citizenship, as are those with a high school diploma or less when compared with people with at least some college education.

When it comes to the number of Americans who actually serve on a jury in a given year, recent statistics are hard to find. But the National Center for State Courts, an independent research organization focused on the state judiciary, [has estimated](http://www.ncsc-jurystudies.org/~/media/Microsites/Files/CJS/SOS/sos_exec_sum.ashx) that only about 15% of U.S. adults receive a jury summons each year, and fewer than 5% of those who are summoned end up on a jury. The center’s 2007 estimates are based on a survey of 1,546 counties, representing about 70% of the U.S. population at the time.

[![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/08/FT_17.08.23_JuryDuty_FewerAmericans.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/08/24/jury-duty-is-rare-but-most-americans-see-it-as-part-of-good-citizenship/ft_17-08-23_juryduty_feweramericans/)

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts publishes its own statistics about *federal *jury duty, which is even rarer than state-level service because federal courts handle far fewer cases each year than state courts do. The federal statistics show a significant decline both in the number of people called to jury duty and in the number who are chosen. (The data count only petit, or trial, juries; they exclude grand juries.)

In fiscal 2016, federal courts [called 194,211 people](http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/data_tables/jb_j2_0930.2016.pdf) for petit jury duty, down 37% from [307,204 in fiscal 2006](http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/statistics_import_dir/j2_2.pdf). And 43,697 people were selected for federal petit jury duty, down 39% from 71,578 a decade earlier. The decrease in jurors tracks [a broader decline](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/nyregion/jury-trials-vanish-and-justice-is-served-behind-closed-doors.html?mcubz=3&_r=0) in the number of federal jury trials: In 2016, just 2% of 77,318 total federal defendants had their cases [decided by a jury](http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/data_tables/jb_d4_0930.2016.pdf), half the total in 2006.