Looks like Queens needs a boroughwide civics class.
More than one-third, or 35 percent, of Queens residents ignore their jury-duty notices — the highest in the five boroughs.
“We’re dealing with thousands of people, and we just don’t have the staff,” said Queens County Clerk Audrey Pheffer, who acts as the commissioner of jurors.
In fact, Pheffer, a former assemblywoman, said the office stopped bothering to impose fines as it upgrades its jury-selection system.
Using voter-registration, motor-vehicle, tax and election records, the five city clerks blindly sent out more than 800,000 jury notices last year — not knowing if the residents are alive, living in another state, or didn’t understand what a jury summons is.
Recipients are supposed to show up at the courthouse or request a postponement — but many just ignore the notices.
Staten Island was second on the bad-jurors list, with 20 percent of residents who got notices ignoring them. It, too, has stopped issuing fines. But the borough had the highest percentage of people — 46 percent — who actually do serve once summoned.
In The Bronx, 16 percent ignore the notices, and in Brooklyn it is 7 percent. Manhattan had the most duty-bound residents, with just 4 percent breaking the law, although it has the distinction of having the highest rate — 63 percent — of people requesting deferrals.