How to Answer a Juror Questionnaire: Form, Deadlines, and Penalties

When a juror qualification questionnaire lands in your mailbox, federal law gives you 10 days to complete it and send it back, and every answer must be truthful.¹ Knowing how to answer a juror questionnaire correctly comes down to two things: understanding what each question is actually asking, and giving a short, honest, legible response. The form is not a test. The court uses it to confirm you meet the basic legal requirements for jury service and to build a fair pool of prospective jurors.

Ignoring the form, or lying on it, can cost you a fine of up to $1,000, up to three days in jail, community service, or some combination.¹

What the Form Will Ask You

Most federal juror qualification forms follow a standard template.² Before you sit down with it, have the following ready:

Your full name, date of birth, address, and contact information.
Your citizenship status and how long you have lived in the judicial district.
Your current occupation, employer, and job description. Some forms ask for up to ten years of work history.
Your education level, including any college, trade school, or graduate program.
Any pending criminal charges or felony convictions, and whether your civil rights have been restored.
Any physical or mental condition that would keep you from serving through a trial.
Whether you have served on a jury before, and when.
Whether you are a salaried federal employee, an elected official, or a professional police officer or firefighter.

Some courts add questions about experience with the justice system, such as whether you or a close family member has been a crime victim or worked in a legal profession. Those questions help attorneys spot potential biases during in-person questioning later on, a stage called voir dire.³

How to Answer Each Question

Tell the truth. The questionnaire is a sworn document. Deliberately lying to get out of service, or to get onto a jury, carries the same penalties as ignoring it entirely.¹

Read the instructions first. Courts sometimes give specific directions about marking answers, filling in ovals, or attaching documentation. If a question is unclear, call the clerk’s office listed on the form rather than guessing.

Keep answers short and factual. The court wants a snapshot, not an essay. For occupation, “high school teacher” is enough. You do not need to describe your lesson plans or explain why the timing is inconvenient.

Write legibly on a paper form. An unreadable answer creates the same problem as no answer, and the clerk may bounce the form back to you for correction within another 10 days.¹

Review the whole form before you send it. Blank fields and inconsistent answers slow the process. Make a copy for your own records before it goes in the mail or gets submitted online.

If You Don’t Qualify or Are Exempt

Some answers on the form will disqualify you or exempt you from serving. You should still complete and return the questionnaire so the court can process that finding. To be eligible for federal jury service under 28 USC 1865, you must:⁴

Be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old, and have lived in the judicial district for at least one year.
Be able to read, write, speak, and understand English well enough to complete the form.
Have no mental or physical condition preventing service, unless the court can accommodate it.
Have no pending felony charges carrying a possible sentence of more than one year.
Have never been convicted of a felony, unless your civil rights have been restored.

Three groups are barred from federal jury service even if they meet every other qualification: active-duty members of the armed forces or National Guard; members of professional (not volunteer) police or fire departments; and full-time public officers who were elected or directly appointed by an elected official. Mark the exemption on the form and you will not be called.⁵

If You Want to Be Excused or Deferred

Receiving a questionnaire does not guarantee you will be called, but if service would create a genuine hardship, use the form itself (or your court’s online system) to ask for a permanent excuse or a deferral to a later date. Courts grant these on the basis of “undue hardship or extreme inconvenience.” Accepted reasons include caring for a dependent with no available substitute, a serious medical condition, or financial hardship beyond simply missing a paycheck. Not wanting to serve, or having a busy schedule, does not qualify.⁵

Many courts also grant permanent excuses to people over 70, anyone who has served on a federal jury within the past two years, and volunteer firefighters or rescue squad members. Attach supporting documentation, such as a doctor’s statement or proof of caregiving responsibility, if you have it. Requests are granted at the court’s discretion and cannot be appealed.⁵

How to Send the Form Back

You have 10 days from receipt to return the completed form.¹ There are usually two ways.

By mail. Most courts include a prepaid return envelope. Fill out the paper form, sign it, and drop it in the mail.

Online through eJuror. Many federal courts operate an electronic portal called eJuror that lets you complete the questionnaire, update your personal information, check when you need to report, and submit a request to be excused or deferred. The instructions on your mailed form or postcard will tell you how to reach your court’s eJuror page.⁶

If a disability or language barrier keeps you from filling out the form yourself, someone else may complete it for you. That person must note on the form that they did so and explain why.¹

One boundary worth noting: state and local courts run their own jury systems, with their own forms, deadlines, and rules. The steps here apply to federal juror questionnaires. If yours came from a state or county court, follow the instructions on that form or contact its clerk.

What Ignoring or Lying on the Form Costs

If you do not return the form, the court can summon you to the clerk’s office to fill it out on the spot. Ignore that summons and a judge can order you to appear and explain yourself. Failing to show up for that order, or failing to give a good reason for noncompliance, exposes you to a fine of up to $1,000, up to three days in jail, community service, or any combination.¹ The same penalties apply if you later skip a summons to appear for jury selection.⁷

The dollar amount is modest. The real headache is the cascade of escalating court orders. Sending the form back on time is far simpler than explaining to a judge later why you did not.

What Happens After You Submit

Court staff review returned questionnaires to sort out who is legally qualified. Based on your answers, you will be placed in the qualified jury pool, disqualified, excused, or deferred. Being in the pool does not mean you will definitely serve. When a trial needs a jury, the court randomly draws a group from the pool and sends them a summons to report to the courthouse.³

If you never hear anything after submitting, that simply means you were not selected for a panel during that term.³

Watch Out for Jury Duty Scams

Scammers exploit this exact process. Posing as court officials or law enforcement, they contact people by phone, email, and text claiming they missed jury duty and face arrest unless they pay a fine immediately. Payment is demanded in gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency. It is fraud.⁸

Federal courts will never call, email, or text you to demand payment, and will never ask for your Social Security number, bank account, or credit card number over the phone or by email. Nearly all legitimate jury communication arrives by U.S. mail. If someone contacts you claiming to be from the court and asks for money or sensitive personal information, hang up or delete the message and report it to the clerk’s office of your local federal district court or to the Federal Trade Commission.⁸

The questionnaire itself asks for sensitive details, including your Social Security number and home address. Federal courts exclude documents containing juror identifying information from public case files, and any such identifiers in a court transcript are subject to redaction before the transcript becomes publicly available.⁹ Provide those answers only on the official form or through your court’s eJuror portal, never in response to a call or message.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1864 – Drawing of Names From the Master Jury Wheel; Completion of Juror Qualification Form
2
Federal Judicial Center. Notice of Final Version of Juror Questionnaire
3
United States Courts. Juror Selection Process
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1865 – Qualifications for Jury Service
5
United States Courts. Juror Qualifications, Exemptions and Excuses
6
United States Courts. Summoned for Federal Jury Service
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1866 – Selection and Summoning of Jury Panels
8
United States Courts. Juror Scams
9
United States Courts. Privacy Policy for Electronic Case Files