Those who have received a summons for jury duty may have been tempted to throw the document in the garbage, almost like they never even received it; however, this is the last thing that should be done, as deliberately missing jury duty can actually result in you being arrested.
In fact, if you deliberately ignore a summons to report for jury duty, you will run the risk of having a sheriff’s deputy make a trip to your home with a bench warrant due to your failure to appear.
On the other hand, there are some legitimate reasons as to why someone may not be able to serve for jury duty. For instance, approximately 25% of jury duty summonses do actually get lost in the mail, partly because of address information that is either inaccurate or outdated. Additionally, if an individual who is sent a jury duty summons has either an illness or a handicap, this will typically excuse them from having to serve jury duty. On the other hand, you will not be excused from serving jury duty just because it will result in you missing either school or work. This is because colleges and employers, by federal law, are prohibited from penalizing those who are summoned for jury duty.
Those who do choose to do the right thing and serve jury duty will also receive some awesome incentives for doing so. For instance, you will be able to take advantage of cheap parking, receive useful coupons for nearby restaurants, and even receive compensation of up to $15 a day!
When it comes down to it, if you are summoned for jury duty, the best thing that you can do is respond to the summons and serve rather than ignoring the summons and risking any kind of trouble for yourself as a result. In the long run, you will be doing your civic duty, which is always the greatest feeling in the world.
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