In recent years, more and more Americans have begun to evade jury duty, creating a serious problem in
some courts, which have been forced to postpone trials because an adequate number of jurors were not
available.
A. What is the cost to a citizen of serving as a juror?
B. For whom will the net cost be very low or even negative? For whom will the net cost be very high, perhaps
even prohibitively high?
C. Can you think of any simple system for reducing the average cost to citizens of jury service?
D. What consequences would you predict if we moved to a completely volunteer jury system, under which the
courts paid jurors a daily wage sufficient to obtain the services of as many qualified jurors as the court
required?
E. Many citizens who faithfully answer every summons to jury duty have complained of their treatment at the
hands of court officials who behave as if the time of jurors had no value whatsoever. For example, prospective
jurors may be required to sit for days in a waiting room without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. What is
the cost to court officials of behaving inconsiderately toward jury candidates?