Bailiffs
Maintain order in courts of law.
Most important skills
- Social Perceptiveness
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Critical Thinking
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Public Safety and Security
- Law and Government
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Psychology
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Maintain order in courtroom during trial and guard jury from outside contact.
- Guard lodging of sequestered jury.
- Enforce courtroom rules of behavior and warn persons not to smoke or disturb court procedure.
- Report need for police or medical assistance to sheriff's office.
- Announce entrance of judge.
- Stop people from entering courtroom while judge charges jury.
- Screen persons entering courthouse using magnetometers, x-ray machines, and other devices to collect and retain unauthorized firearms and other contraband.
- Provide security by patrolling interior and exterior of courthouse and escorting judges and other court employees.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (39.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (27.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (34.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Bailiffs is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 71% of occupations compared | 80% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 87% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 63% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 78% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 88% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 81% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 93% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 50% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 8.87%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 11.55%
- Constant contact with others: 79.58%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 7.41%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 29.93%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 1.97%
- Important: 8.87%
- Very important: 34.79%
- Extremely important: 54.36%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 6.9%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 27.46%
- Some freedom: 41.12%
- A lot of freedom: 24.52%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 23.48%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.84%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 4.64%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.41%
- Every day: 42.63%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 13.8%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.62%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 29.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.54%
- Every day: 24.59%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.78%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 8.87%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 37.87%
- Every day: 37.48%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 29.85%
- Fairly serious: 17.83%
- Serious: 9.07%
- Very serious: 11.63%
- Extremely serious: 31.61%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 33-3011.00 · SOC 33-3011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8