Check out the health of jury rights in your state Called for Jury Duty? fija.org

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### Check out the health of jury rights in your state
Called for Jury Duty?
So you've received a jury summons in the mail. GREAT! This is your chance to serve conscientiously as a fully informed juror. Here's a brief rundown of what you need to know to do your best as a trial or grand juror.

### 1. Be Fully Informed

As a juror, you have the right to vote your conscience, even if it means setting aside the law to conscientiously acquit someone who has technically broken the law.

You cannot legally be punished for or required to change your verdict. In fact, there is no requirement for jurors to deliver a verdict. If jurors cannot agree on a verdict, judges may issue additional instructions known as "Allen" or "dynamite" charges. These additional instructions may strongly imply to jurors that they are somehow remiss in their duty if they do not reach a verdict. This is simply not true.

Jurors should not give up their conscientiously held beliefs under such pressure just for the sake of consensus. If they cannot reach a verdict, the judge will at some point declare a mistrial.

Judges and prosecutors may try to conceal this right from you. They may even openly deny that jurors have the ability to do this or falsely suggest that they may be punished for conscientiously acquitting a defendant who has technically broken a law. Appeals courts have ruled that although such instructions are false, they constitute a type of error for which the higher court provides no relief to the defendant. This means that there is no penalty for the government when it falsely instructs jurors on the subject, so it is something we expect to continue for the foreseeable future.