The Importance of Jury Duty

[akitaka]

I came home from work today, and in the mail is a letter from the Superior Court of Arizona; labeled with a big, fat, red title reading "*Important* - Jury Summons Enclosed". A part of me was curious, the other a bit wrenched from the impression that most people have given upon receiving similar letters-- 9 hours of unpaid waiting.

However, it's this "waiting" period that is a large part of out court system in keeping the 'people' involved with our legal system. Even with this knowledge, an average of less-than-half of summoned people actually show up, if not find ways to exempt themselves (which is apparently quite easy according to most how-to sites (http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Out-of-Jury-Duty)). Apparently, Boston is/was at it's worst, with less than 30% of summoned jurors attending the trails.

Being young and naive as I am, I'd like to ask you all about your impressions of Jury duty, whether you think that it's well worth it to attend, and potentially miss days of work. For the righteous folk that attend and endure, how do you cope with the work involved?

For the count, since this is my first mark, I felt that I might as well go and learn something. Thankfully for me, I do not have work on that day :cop:

[japanat]

Very often, if you get picked at all, you get only a 1/2-day trial or some other minor matter (drug possession, DUI, watering the lawn on the wrong day, etc). It is indeed a small percentage of trials that ever take more than a day or make the news. In 99% of cases, Boston Legal it isn't.

My sister has been summoned 5 times, was released the first 3 because of small children at home, had a 3-hr trial the 4th, and never got picked the last.

I've received 7 summons over the last 17 years, but since I'm living overseas, my mother just returns them unopened, writing "Currently in Japan." on the envelope. One time they called and threatened legal action since I was never showing up. She told them where I lived and they did a "Emily Litella".

edit: corrected character

[Shuft]

I got summoned once. I was excited about going. It had instructions to call the night before though. I did, and they told me I didn't have to show up because they didn't need as many jurors as they had summoned.

[Black Dog]

"The trick is to say your racist against all races"

[MNJetter]

I have yet to be summoned for jury duty, that I know of. I suppose my parents could have taken care of a summons without my knowledge, but I think they would have let me know. If I am summoned (and in the country), I plan to go, unless I have a valid reason not to. It's a civic duty, and I figure that if I am going to feel the right to take part in how the government works and what it does, I'm also obligated to help it run the way it's supposed to.

[Fermented Yeast Paste]

"The trick is to say your racist against all races"
If you want to be held in contempt, then sure.

[/|/@/|/@し]

I have no idea if I'll ever get in trouble for this, but I did get summoned once yet never attended.

I moved a couple months earlier to a different state. By the time the letter was forwarded to me, I think the court date had already gone by so I just threw the letter away not wanting to deal with it. In retrospect, this may have been a bad thing.

[edited because I can't form coherent sentences when I first wake up]

[SlickWilly440]

Just don't register to vote and you won't have to worry about getting summoned.

[Digital Masta]

Just don't register to vote and you won't have to worry about getting summoned.

Actually I don't think that's true at all. I believe they can still summon you regardless.

[ZaichikArky]

It's interesting that the way the jury duty is handled varies between the states. I was summoned twice, and this was before I even turned 20 -_-. Probably because I was registered in 2 counties. Anyway, in California, they give you a phone number to call to see if you even have to show up. The first time I was summoned, I found out a couple days before the court date that my group was not chosen! The second time, I had to miss a really shitty class(seriously among the worst I've ever taken) , so I was HAPPY I was summoned because jury duty is one thing that will get you an excusable absence. Just on a small tangent, the class was about Jewish culture, and the teacher did not allow absence on Yom Kippur. Liek wow 0_o.

So the second time I was summoned, I sat in a room for only 4 hours and then finally someone came in at the last minute and told us all we can go home. The case was about a child molester and they had difficulties finding jurors, so they had to go through a lot of groups before finally they found one person before going through us.

I know some people who want to be jurors, actually. There're really interested in court cases. Also, Japanat, usually those kinds of cases don't even need jurors, do they? Misdemeanors are just taken care of by one judge. I went to court a couple times for traffic tickets, and that was handled there. But maybe I'm wrong because the misdemenors present there were even more minor than stealing(such as driving without a license/registration), however one kid was there for smoking pot while driving(and he was 16).

Just don't register to vote and you won't have to worry about getting summoned.

I hope you're not serious because one of the biggest things that pisses me off about my country is that not enough people vote. I really wish that we'd just adopt Australia's law and make voting mandatory. And yeah, like DM said, it doesn't have everything to do with being registered to vote. I never registered to vote in my home town and still I was summoned.

As for what I think about jury duty, I think that only the people who WANT to do it, should do it. I've never gotten to that stage in the precedings, but if I ever was interviewed, if I was interested in the case, I'd tell them I'd really love being a juror. My father has been interviewed and he told them that he wouldn't want to be a juror, but he would be a fair juror if he were chosen. My mom always checks "lacking English ability" and she gets away with that. Even though she has held a job where English ability is a requirement for the last 15 years, in reality maybe she actually wouldn't be able to understand enough of what's going on.

So in reality, you don't even have to lie. If you're interviewed, you can tell them you'd be a bad juror and they won't chose you. They only want unbiased people anyway, so it'll work.

However there is the most awful situation ever. I hear this happens in some states. A group literally goes in to sit in a courthouse for 8 hrs a day for up to two weeks and never even gets an interview. At some point, they'll tell them to go home. How horrid -_-.

In Florida, they make EVERYONE show up, none of this wonderful telephone technology CA has, and some states are like that as well. I'm glad CA's system seems to me the most convenient for such an inconvenience.

I have a lot to say on this topic for some reason >_>.

[japanat]

Actually, ZA, I was talking about felony drug possession, but I can see where that wasn't clear. Also, some people will insist on their right to a jury trial even for a misdemeanor.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Prior to having a recent meeting with a lawyer, I didn't think much about the jury system. I thought that in most cases, putting the law in the hands of a bunch of non-experts on the matter is silly and counter-productive, and would result in miscarriages of justice.

After talking with the lawyer, I was educated about how little the jury is actually given to decide, and realized that it's a pretty good system. They don't let the jury decide black and white, only between the shades of grey (findings of fact, degrees of guilt, etc.).

And that's pretty damned cool.

I don't think I'd want to do it, but I think it's a good system and one that we should participate in if we need to and feel that we could do a good job. I think it's probably educational, and well worth it to do at least once.

[ZaichikArky]

Yeah... a couple of years ago, I thought "why the hell do we let commoners decide whether a person is guilty of murder?" and then wondered why we don't have professional jurors like other countries do. Then I realized what PLF realized and thought that we do have a really good system that prides itself on being as unabiased as possible... though sometimes it doesn't work that way, I'm pretty confident about our legal system. I kind of sort of want to go to law school...the third thing I'm thinking about doing while/after my Japan thing.

Law School
Business MBA
or Library Studies MBA.

or MAYBE teaching Masters.

Decisions decisions ;_;. Maybe I'll make a thread about it like Ellie did and have all you smart people help me figure out what to do :D