Does SC have age limits for jury duty? Here’s who’s eligible to serve

Every year South Carolina’s State Election Commission sends county jury commissioners a list of residents eligible to serve their community as jurors. Names are randomly selected from this list to summon potential jurors.

But are there age limits for service?

According to the South Carolina Judicial Branch a qualified juror:

• Is over the age of 18 years

• Has United States citizenship

• Resides in the South Carolina

• Can read, write, speak and understand English

• Hasn’t been convicted of a crime that carries a sentence of more than one year of imprisonment except in cases of pardons or amnesty

• Is not a clerk of court, deputy clerk of court, constable, sheriff, commissioned law enforcement officer, probate judge, county commissioner, magistrate, or county officer, or otherwise employed in courthouse

• Has a sixth grade education or its equivalent

• Does not have a mental or physical condition preventing jury service

• Has not served on a circuit court jury within the current calendar year

While the law has no maximum age limit, residents over the age of 65 can be excused from service. According to the South Carolina Judicial Branch website, the state will exempt:

• People 65 years of age or older who wish to be excused

• Primary caretakers of a disabled person or a person age 65 or older who requires care

• People with legal custody and duty of care of a child under the age of seven and who can’t provide adequate childcare

• Guards, keepers, employees, and other officers at a state penitentiary

• People who have served on a circuit court jury during the previous two calendar years

• People who have served on a grand jury during the previous four calendar years

But these exemptions aren’t automatic. To be excused, residents summoned must submit an affidavit. More information about exemptions from jury service can be found here, on the South Carolina Judicial Branch website.