Currently in the United States every person accused of a crime punishable by incarceration for more than six months has a constitutional right to a trial by jury, Which arises in federal court from the sixth Amendment, the Seventh Amendment, and Article Three of the United States Constitution, which states in part, "The trial of all Crimes...shall be by jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed". Most states' constitutions also grant the right of trial by jury in lesser criminal matters, though most have eliminated that right in offenses punishable by fine only. The Supreme Court has ruled that if imprisonment is for six months or less, trial by jury is not required, meaning a state choose whether or not to permit trial by jury in such cases.
Specifically, the Supreme Court has held that no offense can be deemed ' petty for purposes of the right to trial by jury where imprisonment for more than six months is authorized. No jury trial was required when the trial judge suspended sentence and placed defendant on probation for three years. There is a presumption that offenses carrying a maximum imprisonment of six months or less are petty, although it is possible that such an offense could be pushed into the serious category if the legislature tack on onerous penalties not involving incarceration
Many juvenile court systems do not recognize a right to jury trial ,on the grounds that juvenile are proceedings are civil rather than criminal, and that jury trials would cause the process to become adversarial