Jury Service & The "Senior Discount"

       Too often, counties find themselves with a lack of jurors willing to serve.  Getting people to the polls can be difficult, and the problem persists in this arena of civic duty exercise.  For example, on average in Dallas County, only twenty percent of those called show up for service.  Texas citizens are able to elect from a number of different exemptions to get out of jury duty as well: current students and those with children under age twelve that have childcare duties, for example, will often avoid placement in a pool.  However, one exemption that is not often discussed is essentially the "early bird special" of jury service: the senior citizen exemption.

The Texas Exemption

       In the state of Texas, jurors over the age of seventy years old are eligible for exemption from jury duty.  But in order to make this exemption permanent and avoid even being registered on the Texas summons list, senior citizens must file a signed statement with the county voter registrar.  This formal solution seems somewhat complicated.  Perhaps this is by design, as counties would not want to remove yet another category of people from the juror pool list; as it stands, many low-educated and low-income persons are already excluded from the summons listings that are based on voter registration and drivers license records.  The legislature's adding of hoops for senior citizens, individuals who are generally not preoccupied by the "inconvenience factors" like work commitments that younger adults experience, could possibly stem from wanting to prevent further limitations on an already strained system.  On the other hand, is keeping these people in the rotation doing more good than harm?  One recent news article highlighted the fact that senior citizens are often targets for juror-related scams; thousands were recently being hounded by fake calls from the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, threatening "failure to appear" jail time unless the individuals handed over hundreds of dollars in cash.  This susceptibility factor is not only unfortunate, but could also signal that these older members of society are not as capable of differentiating truth from fiction.

National Consequences

       Like Texas, many other states have systems in place to allow senior citizens to exempt themselves from jury duty.  These exemptions often depend on age, health issues, and distance from the local courthouse.  It seems many potential senior jurors nationwide are choosing to take their senior citizen exemption as well, especially when doing so is as easy as checking a box on the summons.  In Florida, for example, less than five percent of those age 70 and older that were called to serve actually showed for jury duty.  So, is this exemption essentially a "senior discount," or an unlikely form of age discrimination?  It does not appear that senior citizens are selected less often than their younger veniremen, so perhaps this issue rests more on getting seniors to the courthouse itself.  Another study found that preemptory challenges based exclusively on age were accepted by courts, even though this immutable characteristic could be compared to the Batson-protected areas of race and gender.  This treatment appears to have led some seniors to be tentative to participate in or skeptical of the system itself, in light of their feeling discarded or discriminated against.

So What Result?

       As discussed in my previous blog post in relation to felons and their service on juries, the answer is unclear.  More research should be done in order to make sure that the senior citizen exemptions, if effectively utilized, are not putting the elderly through too many hoops.  At the same time, it is important to continue to evaluate our jury pools and evaluate whether older individuals are adequately represented in the "jury of our peers" ideal.

If you are a person over the age of seventy or have a family member/friend/etc. that is and you would like to share your perspective on this topic, post a comment below.

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