High School Seniors Invited to Federal Courts
To Learn More About Jury Service

Federal judges are inviting high-school seniors to local federal courthouses the week of November 11 to provide the potential jurors with a unique learning experience. This opportunity will support teachers’ efforts to build knowledge, develop real-life skills, and foster positive attitudes toward the role of courts in a democratic society.

Concerned about the declining response rate to jury summons, which may reflect a lack of understanding about the importance of jury service, federal courts are hosting the students so they can learn more about this experience by participating as jurors in a mock trial.

“Federal judges want to increase the court literacy of high-school seniors so that, as future jurors, their level of ease and familiarity with the courts enhances the likelihood that they will respond positively to a jury summons,” said Rebecca Fanning, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Fanning manages the Judiciary’s outreach initiatives, which includes Open Doors to Federal Courts. This project sponsors a special event each year to teach the public more about federal courts.

Courts nationwide are gearing up now for this year’s event. The theme is Jury Service: A Rite of Passage, and the program is scheduled for Wednesday, November 13. However, courts can choose to offer the program any time during the week of November 11. They also can use it in the future.

During the event, judges, lawyers, teachers, community leaders, and the media work with high-school seniors to help them learn about jury service. Students will go through the jury process, from summons and questionnaires in the classroom to a program at the courthouse that includes jury selection, testimony in a mock trial, deliberations, verdict, and debriefing with host judges and volunteer attorneys.

To prepare registered teachers, most courts have a 90-minute orientation to the program and the courthouse in September or October.  At the orientation, and sometimes in the teachers’ classrooms, attorneys volunteer to help the teachers prepare students for their introduction to jury duty at the courthouse.

The required lesson plan, Function of Juries and the Qualifications for Jury Service, is posted on the federal courts’ web site: www.uscourts.gov. ( Educational Outreach, Lesson Plans for High School Law-Related Educators.)

After participating in the program, students will be able to

  • Describe the function and importance of a jury in U.S. government.
  • Describe the difference between a trial jury and a grand jury.
  • List the qualifications for a juror.
Courthouse registrations for this year’s program are e-mailed to Fanning from appellate, district, magistrate, and bankruptcy judges or their designated program coordinators. Local courthouse coordinators set the deadline for teachers to  register.  In the past three years of the national Open Doors to Federal Courts initiative, judges in every judicial circuit have participated. Program coordinators at each courthouse are selected by the host judges to serve as the liaison with teachers, organize the teachers’ orientation and student event, and modify the program to meet the interests and needs of the judges, teachers, and other participants.

“Written evaluations and video-taped exit interviews have shown strong support from participating students, teachers, judges and attorneys,” Fanning said.  “We see attitudes change right in the courtroom during the event.”

“This kind of experiential learning is meant to counteract misinformation and negative perceptions that might exist about courts, judges, and jury service,” Fanning said. “As a result of this initiative, judges and court staff hope that young people will be motivated to participate in jury service when they have the opportunity.”