DS goes to school in MA. He just received a jury duty notice at our home address in MD for MA. It was mailed to an old MA address. According to the paperwork being a student does not excuse you nor does being registered to vote in another state.
He was on co-op the 1st half of the year out of state, but moved back to MA in July so he will have lived in MA just under 6 months this yr. Have other peoples kids had to serve jury duty while in school? Specifically in MA, since they seem to make it very hard for students to be excused.
I assume that your son is at Northeastern. Here is one of several discussions about student jury duty in MA. It is virtually impossible to avoid jury duty.
We live in MD and my DD went to school in MA. Her school emailed every student explaining that they could be called for jury duty in MA. When I questioned this, I believe the explanation had to do with the number of days she resided in MA as a college student.
@Mom24boys My DD was called for jury duty in MD and was allowed to choose when she wanted to serve because she was currently enrolled in college. See if your son can choose when he can serve in MA.
How do they even find these kids. Their licences are out of state, they’re registered to vote out of state, they have no local ties at all. In what database does Massachusetts find them?
"According to the Office of Jury Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, “Every U.S. Citizen 17 years of age or older who is a Massachusetts resident or an inhabitant for more than 50% of the time is eligible to serve as a juror. If you are a resident of another state but a student at a Massachusetts college, you are an inhabitant for more than 50% of the year and, therefore, eligible to serve as a juror in Massachusetts. ”
@“Queen’s Mom” I believe that colleges and universities in the state of MA have to submit the names of all students in attendance.
Son is not registered to vote in MA and info says he does not need to be.
My guess is that they find students who do not live on campus. The notification was mailed to an address he lived at during the summer after his 1st yr, he is starting his 4th year currently.
I will advice him to try and change the date to a day he has no classes. From what I have read, most students only have to serve 1 day (we can only hope).
By law, cities and towns of Massachusetts must submit a list of all residents seventeen years of age and older to the Office of Jury Commissioner (OJC) every year. Since most students are residing at their schools from January through May and then again from August to December, they are considered inhabitants (residents) for more than 50% of the time.
Therefore, I am almost certain that colleges or universities in the state of MA provide lists of their students who are 17 years of age or older to the OJC.
Massachusetts resident here…
I would encourage every one to think of jury service as a positive experience, especially for a young person learning about the ways of the world. As mentioned above, one can postpone jury service up to a year and select a convenient day. I have served on a jury with college students. Chances are that they learned more from participating on the jury than they would in an average day of classes.
I have the opposite problem, DS is at school in Colorado. He does not come home to Hawaii for summers; only for an occasional spring or winter break. He is registered to vote in CO, but his driver license is from HI. He was here for one week in March and won’t be back until mid-December, and then only for 10 days. He’ll actually be leaving for the UK in 2 weeks, then will be here for Christmas, then back to CO for probably another year.
I don’t think he ever intends to live here permanently again, but he’s 20 - who knows what may happen. I’m not sure he’d say he intends to stay in CO permanently, either.
He just got a jury questionnaire for here. I’m going to call on Monday and ask them what to do. He really can’t postpone, because he probably won’t be back for any extended period of time for a year or more. This was his last permanent residence, but I don’t think he can say it still is. Weird to call some place your residence when you are only there 10-30 days per year. Anyway, I’ll report back.
Every jurisdiction is different. You need to check with the local rules which can vary by county as well as state. One of mine, Illinois Cook County resident, was advised to send a letter stating he was an out-of-state student. Not required to report, but he continued to be called annually for the next several years. Each time, the same letter giving out-of-state student status sufficed. Unlike some jurisdictions, he was not re-called for a summer or vacation period - just a random call at some point the next year. Finally served after graduating when he’d returned to the state.
During this time that he was being apparently excused, then recalled, his dad and I also received multiple summons. I think we served 3 times between the two of us while son was excused. I was told this was a random happening, but don’t believe it. I’m sure our household address got flagged
DD got a jury questionnaire in CT when she was a college student in CA. It wasn’t a summons…just a questionnaire.
We took a red marker and wrote “this person is a college student in CA” on it, and mailed it back. She was never contacted again.
I served on a jury. It was an interesting experience. I should add, however, my jury duty experiences lasted for three weeks, not one day. I had to report to the courthouse every weekday for three weeks. Sometimes we heard testimony. Sometimes we just sat in the jury room…and then were dismissed for the day (because of other commitments in the court).
There is no flagging of names for the juror rolls. It would be illegal as it has to be random. You can’t volunteer for jury duty (like some John Grisham novels would like you to believe). It really was just a coincidence.
D just received a jury summons for mid-September when she will be away at college in upstate NY (we live in MA). I was able to postpone it to January 3rd when she is home for holiday break and most likely not be travelling. I think it is a wonderful opportunity for a college student to see how the system works (or doesn’t lol).