Jurors form the foundation of our legal system, where jury service is both a cherished right and an immense responsibility. Jurors support fair trials by serving as a check on the power of judges, attorneys, and other officials. Jurors make a difference by sacrificing their time and upending their personal lives to provides access to justice for all Californians. In fact, as a group, jurors comprise the largest volume of visitors to courts across the state.
Many groups recognize these contributions through annual events, local recognition initiatives, and other festivities. The Judicial Council and the superior courts work together to recognize the millions of Californians who answer the call to serve their communities and put into practice the fundamental American ideal of justice. This is because without juries, our legal system would not be able to function. There is no replacement for the role jurors provide in our democracy and the impact they have on our society.
Why Celebrate Jurors?
- To celebrate our jurors for their outstanding and important service;
- To recognize the sacrifices jurors make in order to fulfill their civic duty;
- To honor the relationship between jurors, courts, and their local communities; and
- To join with our justice partners and other courts in acknowledging and thanking jurors.
Why Participate in Jury Service?
You have the opportunity:
- To make a difference in your local community by supporting fair trials
- By helping ensure access to justice for everyone, including yourself;
- To fundamentally contribute to our American system of law and order;
- To discover how empowering jury service can be, how treasured the connections you will make with others during the course of your service can be; and
- To directly affect an individual’s life by weighing evidence, taking part in a trial, and rendering a verdict.
Did You Know?
Statewide, Californians participate in jury service each year in the following ways:
- Over 10 million people are summoned, or 1 in 4 people statewide;
- More than 4.5 million people complete jury service, either in-person, on call, or standby;
- Approximately 96,000 are sworn in as trial jurors; and
- 70%+ of prospective jurors who arrive in person complete their service in one day.
Public Resources
- To learn more about jury service, please read our Jury Handbook.
- To get information and instructions for responding to your juror summons, check out our Court and Community pamphlet.
- For more information about how juries reach a verdict, take a look at our reference Guide to Jury Deliberations.
- If you are currently serving or recently served as a juror and are having difficulty adjusting, you may want to review our Jury Service Stress guide.
- Employers and employees should read through our Better for Business pamphlet on how investing in jury service pays dividends for all of us.
- As technology continues to take an integral place in our daily life, our resource on Navigating Social Media and the Internet for Jurors can help ensure everyone is using it appropriately while completing their jury service.
- Focus on the Courtroom posters that are displayed in jury assembly rooms to remind jurors that inappropriate use of social media and the internet is prohibited during a trial. What jurors “tag” or “tweet” and who they “friend” could be grounds for a mistrial or an appeal, adding cost to taxpayers for a new trial and delaying justice for all of us.
- The Judicial Council has continued to develop our plain language jury instructions in criminal and civil trials, and jurors can ask permission to question witnesses as well as take notes during trials.
- To get local your court’s web address and other contact information, please use the Find My Court option
- To get jury information from your court, use our website’s local jury information tool. Each court is responsible for the content on their website.
- Don’t forget to check out all our resources for the public, attorneys, court staff, and even judges on our website at the Jury Service page!
Jury Service & Other Games
- How much do you know about jury service? A crossword puzzle.
- What’s the first thing that comes to a juror’s mind? A wordsearch puzzle.
- Test your civics knowledge in this matching game.
- Take a ride on the Justice Express and explore the legal system in Court Quest, by iCivics.
- Check out the award-winning virtual jury service experience from Jury Games.
- Do you have what it takes to reach The Verdict? Try this interactive online drama from Logic Locks.
*Please note that all third-party links are shared here for informational purposes only. The Judicial Council of California is not responsible for any third-party website and does not endorse its content. *