What happens if you skip jury duty in Philly
The Pennsylvania judicial code says folks who don’t respond to their jury duty summons can be fined up to $500, be imprisoned, or both.
A white envelope with the Court of Common Pleas logo alerted Gary Sawyer that his time to serve had come again: “Jury duty — It’s your turn!”
This was not the first time Sawyer has been summoned. In his January notice, however, the 71-year-old’s eyes lingered on the envelope’s failure-to-appear section.
“It’s not that I wasn’t planning on going. I just think it’s kind of harsh that you should be fined or be put in jail,” Sawyer said.
Intrigued, he asked Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region: Are people actually fined, held in contempt, or even imprisoned for not showing up for jury duty?
The Pennsylvania judicial code establishes that, without being granted an exception, folks who do not respond to their jury duty summons can be fined up to $500, imprisoned for up to 10 days, or both.
Yet more than one-third of Philadelphians ignore their jury duty summons, according to the last public report by the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania on the issue, in 2018. And they don’t all get penalized.
The court is reluctant to impose penalties on people who dodged jury duty, said Patrick Martin, jury commissioner for the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania.
But it can and has in the past.
Martin was not able to speak on specific cases. Philly, however, used to have a Scofflaw Court to deal exclusively with people skipping jury duty.
In May 2014, Judge John Herron called almost a hundred Philadelphians before him for that transgression. Fifty-two were given a $50 fine, rescheduled for jury duty, and placed on a “lifetime watch” list. Six were exonerated, and arrest warrants were issued for 32 who failed to appear.
The plan was to subpoena 200 people at random who ignored their summonses four times a year. However, after two years in session, the Scofflaw Court shut down due to costs.
This doesn’t mean there are no longer consequences.
These days, the court finds it more productive to work with prospective jurors to accommodate their individual scheduling needs before prioritizing punishing measures, Martin said.
Still, the court’s website is warning folks about a recent jury duty scam trying to use false threats of missed jury duty to get money from Philadelphians.
The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office cannot and does not request payment for failing to appear for jury duty. And the court’s strategy is not focused on punishment.
“The important thing is to show up for jury duty and be mindful that completing the questionnaire in advance greatly assists the court in helping jury trials go smoothly,” Martin said.
Sawyer experienced this accommodation firsthand.
Due to a medical procedure, he could not attend his January summons date. The court rescheduled him for February, without knowing the Eagles would soon win the Super Bowl. His court date happened to fall during the victory parade, and with the court closed, he was rescheduled for May. He had a pre-booked trip and asked to be rescheduled once again, and he finally honored his summons in August.
Martin recommends folks who cannot make their summons date call the jury commissioner’s office at 215-683-7170 or send an email to jury@courts.phila.gov instead of not showing up.
For Sawyer, it was not hard to reschedule. He hopes that when it comes to getting summoned for jury duty, Philadelphians remember that “this is a country of jury of our peers. It is our duty to do that.”