I keep getting called for jury duty but I cant serve because I have a 5 yr old at home?

Question

I was summoned the beginning of january and went down to the courthouse with a birth certificate and my "very" active 5 yr old in tow and was quickly excused. Now two months later I got another summons....what gives? Why did I get called again so soon? I will go again and just be excused...but will I just get another summons two months from now? Am I being profiled? Im just confused because years ago when I was summoned for jury duty, it was the same thing...I got called, I served, then I got called again two months later and again 4 months after that....I do not live in a small town either. I do not have a problem with the system as I would serve if I could but I just want to know why my name keeps coming up so often.

Answer 1

Are you being profiled....lol, give me a break...no, really. The system is computerized and most likely keeps randomly pulling your name up because you didn't serve..It might have been listed as postponed...just because you have a child does not mean that you are exempt forever from serving...Why isn't your child in daycare anyway?......

Answer 2

I doubt you're being profiled, but it seems a bit odd that you were called again so quickly.  My guess for this last time, with your 5 year old, is that the system labeled you as "postponed" but has no way to label why, and therefore doesn't take your child's continued existence into account when it comes to select a jury pool.

You might ask, when you go to the courthouse, why you've been called so many times.  The system is meant to be random, and random systems can create patterns out of sheer randomness - perhaps you are just a recipient of one of those patterns.

Best of luck getting it all straightened out.

Answer 3

So it's not just me. When I lived in Denver I got summoned and actually got on the jury for a one day criminal trial. Then like you said two months later I got summoned again! I showed my boss both times and they could not do anything so again I got selected and served on the jury for another criminal case. That was within one year. The next year I got summoned again, this makes it 3 times in 6 months. I was selected and served this time on a civil trial that lasted 7 days in court. It was cool, the poor guy that did the suing became a millionaire after we made a decision, anyway. While I was on that jury the bailiff came in and took me aside, and asked me how many times I did jury duty in the last year. I told him this was my 3rd time. He told me that 3 times in two years was the max. amount of times you can serve. He told me that because the trial was under way I could step out and the extra could step in. I told him it was a cool trial and I did the whole thing.

Bottom line. They can call you several times. You can only serve a certain amount of time as a member of the jury. I don't know what every city, state has for rules. Once they are into the area you fall into while they are looking they can keep calling you until you serve the max amount they can make you . They draw from drivers license numbers, SS numbers, or could be anything else.

An exemption only works once. The next time you get called the first disqualifier is not a justifiable one. I do not know the laws about a child. Here in NY you are only allowed one DQ. Then you have to go and sit to see if you get picked to serve.

I hope this helps. You can get $50 a day if you miss work for more than 3 days. Good luck, don't try to DQ by getting the judge mad. They tend to remember you that way.

All I can say is when you go in again tell the person at the desk that you have been there 3 times before. They might just dismiss you becuase they can only disrupt your life so many times in a year, or if I remember right a 3 year period. Now that I have been thinking, I was cleared for the next 3 years of jury duty. Just go and talk to every person until someone actually listens and thinks about what is going on, then a light should go off. It seems you should be able to get dismissed. They are going through the pool of people that they have right now. I do not know the laws where you live but here in NY you are only allowed to get one pardon for jury duty in a year. You will have to check into that. I hope it works to your advantage. Don't just not show up, they will fine you. Good luck!