THE PROCESS: Summonsing to Service
THE PROCESS:
Summonsing to Service
SUMMONSING
This section concerns itself with every aspect of the summonsing process. The
Operations Department of the Office of Jury Commissioner (OJC) is the essential cog in the
wheel of the summonsing process which includes the issuance of approximately 1.2 million
summonses each year. The Operations Department establishes and closely monitors the
"Summons Yield" discussed below. In addition, each day the Operations
Department processes about 3,000 summons reply forms (Juror
Confirmation Forms [The Form]) which are fed into an optical scanner, uploaded to the
mainframe computer and downloaded to compact disks for storage. It also handles
approximately 1,500 telephone inquiries. The Operations Department prepares the
paperwork for each court each week to 
ensure that proper attendance data is
recorded for each person reporting for jury service at all courts throughout the
Commonwealth, complies with requests by the courts for changes in scheduling in the number
of jurors required to report for jury service, and archives records that have been fed
into an optical scanner to compact disks for easily referenced storage. The Operations
Department also administers the OJC automated message center which operates throughout the
day (including nights, weekends and holidays) offering the answers (in English and
Spanish) to most questions about jury duty in Massachusetts.
The following is a chronology of the juror summonsing process:
1. The records of the prospective jurors to be summonsed from the whole state for a six week period are loaded into the online database. As a record is about to be loaded, it is run through the ADDER program which does the following:
-suppresses resident records exactly matching OJC records of those who have served since the last ADDER was run, and;
-suppresses resident records exactly matching OJC records of those who, since the last ADDER was run: (1) have received a permanent medical disqualification; (2) have been recorded and confirmed as deceased, and; (3) have been recorded as having moved to a different judicial district.
2. The records loaded into the online database in #1 above are sent to a vendor who applies National Change Of Address (NCOA) and CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) to this data. These United States Post Office (USPS)-sanctioned software programs put addresses in Post Office machinery readable format and change the addresses of those people who have filed a change of address notice with the Post Office within the past two years. By obtaining the most up-to-date addresses and by standardizing the formatting of all addresess as they will appear on our mailing envelopes, the number of undeliverable pieces of mail returned to the OJC is reduced.
3. The records returned from the vendor are matched with the original records in the online databases. Updates are then made. If a resident is found to have moved to an address outside the judicial district, that person is recorded as being disqualified as required by law (a juror must serve at a courthouse in the judicial district where he/she resides).
4. The OJC determines how many people to summons for each court. The following is an explanation of how this determination is made:
-initially, individual courts inform the OJC how many prospective jurors will be needed on average, per day;
-the OJC maintains statistics on the outcome of each summons issued by juror, by court. The result of a summons can be one of the following:
1. returned as "undeliverable" by the USPS;
2. juror responds;
a. juror will appear;
1. juror appeared as scheduled;
2. juror responded but failed to appear as scheduled;
b. juror disqualified;
3. juror fails to respond.
Experience with these statistics enables the OJC to determine how many summonses must be mailed in order to get one (1) person to appear at a particular court. This is referred to as the "summons yield." (For example: If a given yield is 33%, then it takes three (3) summonses issued in order that one (1) person appears to serve as a juror.) Each summons represents a name from the Master Juror List. Once used, a name will not be used again in the summonsing process for that calendar year.
5A. Each week juror summonses are printed and mailed in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 234A, section 19 which states, in part:
At least twelve weeks prior to the commencement of any term of grand or trial juror service, the office of jury commissioner shall summon by first-class mail, grand and trial jurors from the corresponding master juror list to appear for juror service within each judicial district....
Prospective jurors who do not respond to a summons after four weeks are sent a Second Summons.
5B. The Trial Juror Summons packages contains the following:
CONTENTS of the TRIAL JUROR SUMMONS PACKAGE An official summons notification that instructs prospective jurors where, when, and at what time they must appear, and if the courthouse to which they have been assigned is wheelchair accessible; Click here to view an image of a typical
summons notificationA Juror Confirmation Form that must be completed and returned by mail Click here
Juror Confirmation FormInstructions for completing the Form Click here A separate "Instructions And Information" pamphlet Click below to view an image of
A Trial Juror's Handbook that will answer many questions about juror service Click here
The Grand Juror Summons packages contains the following:
CONTENTS of the GRAND JUROR SUMMONS PACKAGE An official summons notification that instructs prospective grand jurors where, when, and at what time they must appear, and if the courthouse to which they have been assigned is wheelchair accessible; Click here
summons notificationA Grand Juror Confirmation Form that must be completed and returned by mail Click here
Juror Confirmation FormInstructions for completing the Form Click here A separate "Instructions And Information" pamphlet Click below to view an image of
A Grand Juror's Handbook that will answer many questions about juror service Click here A "Confidential Financial Questionnaire" that must be completed and brought by the juror to the courthouse Click here
5C. If, after reading all of the information contained in the summons, jurors still have questions, they are invited to call the toll-free Juror Information Line, 1-800-THE-JURY [1-800-843-5879] (accessible from within Massachusetts only). They will immediately be given the option of either speaking with one of our Telephone Operators or navigating a pre-recorded message tree in English and Spanish that will likely answer their questions. This message tree is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while the schedulers are available every business day between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Those who are hearing impaired with TTY devices are invited to call, toll-free, 1-800-328-3202
PROCESSING THE REPLY TO THE SUMMONS
6. When the returned Form arrives at the OJC, those records requiring changes of names or addresses not picked up by NCOA are sorted out and entered into the computer by hand, placed back with the other Forms not needing such attention, and scanned into the OJC optical character recognition system in daily batches. On average 3,000 total Forms per day are scanned. The scanning system captures a picture of the Form. It then extracts and converts the information located on each Form.
7. The data from each Form is then read by the system's verification software. When questions arise, the image of the Form is put on screen where the operator addresses it. If a juror requests disqualification from juror service or requests a change of court location due to hardship, the system automatically puts the image on screen and the operator determines if the request is valid or not.
8. Once a daily batch has been passed through the verification process, the data is uploaded to the mainframe where the individual juror records are updated. The images of the Forms are archived on the scanning system and when 25,000 images are accumulated they are "burned" onto a compact disk for storage. These images may be easily retrieved, viewed, and printed if needed. The original Forms are then shredded.
9. Once a week those jurors whose information has been updated and who require a reply are sent a notice which informs them if their requests for postponement, courthouse transfer, or disqualification from service are valid or not. Those jurors who requested a postponement of longer than 98 days from their original date of service will receive a notice reminding them of service 14 weeks before they are scheduled to appear on their new date, and again approximately ten days before their reporting date.
REMINDER
10. Approximately ten days before prospective jurors are scheduled to appear, they receive a combined "Summons/Handbook Supplement and Reminder Notice." This mailing contains the following:
- a reminder of where, when, and at what time jurors must appear, and if the courthouse to which they have been assigned is wheelchair accessible;
- if they have been placed on "Standby Status" they are given an assigned panel number, and instructions on when and what number to call to learn if they must appear as scheduled;
-
a copy of the "Confidential Juror Questionnaire" (downloadable for printing) which must be completed and brought to the courthouse;
- a map, directions and information about to the courthouse and information on parking availability (if any), and;
- instructions on what to do in case of severe weather or public emergency.
Click on this thumbnail to view a typical "Summons/Handbook Supplement and Reminder Notice."
AT THE COURTHOUSE
11. When prospective jurors appear in a jury pool, they first check-in with the jury pool attendant(s) who enters the juror attendance into the mainframe computer, and juror records are updated. They are given cards which contain panel and seat numbers. Some courts group jurors in panels of eight, and some in panels of sixteen. Those scheduled who do not appear are recorded as absent. If after thirty days these people have not yet served, their records are forwarded to the Delinquent Juror Prosecution Program. If any of the panels have been cancelled via the "Standby System," the records of the members of those panels are recorded by the attendant as such, and their records are updated accordingly.
12. Each morning, once attendance has been taken in the jury pool, the attendant greets the jurors, passes along pertinent information, and orients them to the courthouse facilities.
13. The jurors are then personally welcomed by a judge.
14. During the course of the rest of the day, panels of jurors are sent to various
courtrooms where they may or may not be impaneled. Jurors who are not impaneled
(challenged for cause, peremptorily challenged, or just not reached by the process) must
return to the jury pool because they may be sent to other courtrooms for possible
impanelment. Some may never be sent to a courtroom.
The ability of the court
to provide a jury trial often induces the two sides to settle or plea-bargain, thus
obviating the need to use the jurors present.
15. As soon as the jury pool attendant is informed that jurors will no longer be needed that day, jurors are released and their juror obligation has been satisfied.
AFTER SERVICE
16. Each week, the OJC will mail a Juror Service Certificate (Certificate) to those jurors who have served during the previous week. The Certificate sets forth the dates served and lists compensation due from the Commonwealth, if any. Two copies of the Certificate are mailed to the juror: one to keep as a personal record of juror service, the other to present to his or her employer as evidence of service. If the Certificate indicates that the juror is due compensation from the Commonwealth, a check will be mailed separately. If a juror's service extends beyond one weekly period (Monday through Friday) into another weekly period, that person will receive an additional Certificate listing dates served for the second weekly period. Thus, Certificates are issued much the same as a weekly paycheck.
Trial Juror Service Grand Juror Service Federal
Juror Service Navigational Map of this
Site
Courthouse Information About the Massachusetts Jury System The Source List
Summonsing to Service Delinquent Juror Prosecution Program Public Outreach Program
Related Materials Related Links Frequently
Asked Questions Go Back to the Home Page
to view an image of a typical
to view an image of the
to view an image of the instructions for completing the Form
Part 1 of the pamphlet
Part 2 of the pamphlet
Part 3 of the pamphlet
to view an image of a typical
to view an image of the Grand
to view an image of the instructions for completing the Form
Part 1 of the pamphlet
Part 2 of the pamphlet
Part 3 of the pamphlet
to view an image of the "Confidential Financial Questionnaire"
![(Juror Confirmation Forms [The Form])](images/TJCF-105.jpg){kind=link}