Jury duty - a waste of my time

Parent Cafe
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<p>you people are too type"A" for me.
I agree that there isn’t enough time in the day- but in a situation like that where you don’t have a choice- is it productive to angst over it?</p>

<p>If I am somewhere that is excrutiatingly boring and I know I will have to be there for a while I plan for it.
For instance- I “volunteer” as a pollworker . long day- from 6am to about 9 or 10 pm. Can’t make cell calls- can’t bring my work.- Tuesday we had a special election- not alot of people- really only one issue.
What I do is bring a book- stretch- draw- write- things that I normally wouldn’t take time to sit down and do.
Im not frustrated by obsessing over all the things that I could be doing- and I feel I made a small contribution to the process when my day is finished.
A little attitude shift can make a big difference :)</p>

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<p>

Marite: I prefer to spend my time where I choose to so I’ll ignore your advice. I’m sorry I scare you, it’s not my intention.</p>

<p>I think a few posters missed my point on the ‘most of them are guilty’ statement. I don’t mean to imply that they all are or that they should be assumed to be guilty but in fact, most of them are which means that many of them will plea which means that some of the aforementioned efficiency improvements would apply.</p>

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<p>EK:</p>

<p>I agree. I was once an observer at a recount. It was excruciatingly boring–and I had volunteered for it. The recount actually worked against the person who had called for it insofar as other candidates were found to have accumulated even more votes.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I definitely don’t agree. And what do you mean "“professional jurists?” Nifong?</p>

45

<p>I kept getting called for jury duty when my kids were younger but I was somehow able to put it off for a few years until the court would grant me no more extensions. As a stay at home mom, with no other family in town, it would have been a real hardship to end up on a case that lasted for weeks especially because I drove my kids forty five minutes each way to school every day. So, I finally go over the summer- at the courthouse, I was reassured that an effort would be made to put me on a case that was not going to be a lengthy one. </p>

<p>The case had to do with a group of three girls (18 or 19 years old) who allegedly ganged up on and beat up a young mother right in front of the woman’s six year old son. The supposed assault took place in a very upscale shopping mall food court. We were hearing the case of the sidekick of the gang, not the ringleader.</p>

<p>Anyway, for various reasons I was sure they were going to dismiss me during jury selection for cause. Not only did they NOT dismiss me, the judge appointed me as jury foreperson! It turned out that aside from me, there were jurors on the panel you would never have imagined - a lawyer, former victims of crime etc. The one thing that stood out, however, was that it was a pretty intelligent group - lots of professional people, and even the head of a major government agency who was always in the papers. As it turned out, that’s what the defense was looking for - they knew that anyone with a half a brain would be forced to let the defendant off the hook -they did not want people who would decide based on emotion. There was not a person in that jury room who believed that the girl was innocent, and yet the other side basically had zero evidence to back up their claim. It was a she said,-she said type of case. Even at that, we WANTED to find for the mother, and would have done so, but she shot herself in the foot when she claimed she’d been hospitalized after the attack and then provided no proof of ever even visiting the hospital!</p>

<p>The punchline is that the case took place over the summer. When my kids went back to school, I found out that the alleged victim, was in fact, a mother at <strong><em>my kids’ school</em></strong> (I didn’t know her). My luck! I think I wore dark sunglasses to school events for awhile, LOL. I never found out if she recognized me! </p>

<p>Somehow, I haven’t been called for jury duty for over ten years now. Yes, it can be inconvenient, and I think it would be great to give people more flexibility in planning their service, however, jury service is one of our obligations as citizens in a democracy - something I don’t take for granted.</p>

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<p>Attitude</p>

<p>There once was a woman who woke up one morning,
Looked in the mirror,
And noticed she had only three hairs on her head.</p>

<p>Well," she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today?”
So she did
And
She
Had
A
Wonderful
Day.</p>

<p>The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror
And saw that she had only two hairs on her head. </p>

<p>“H-M-M,” she said,
“I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today?”
So she did
And
She
Had
A
Grand
Day.</p>

<p>The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. </p>

<p>“Well,” she said,
“today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.”
So she did
And
She
Had
A
Fun,
Fun
Day.</p>

<p>The next day she woke up,
Looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. </p>

<p>“YEA!” she exclaimed,
“I don’t have to fix my hair today!”</p>

<p>Attitude is everything.</p>

47

<p>I was called once, but wrote them back about some surgery I was having, and offered to serve in two months when I would be medically cleared. That was five years ago, and I never heard from them again after they excused me. </p>

<p>I guess they figure anyone actually willing to serve is automatically too suspect for jury work.</p>

48

<p>My spouse routinely gets summons once a year like clockwork. We have the system where you call in the night before to see if you need to report. You must call for 5 days. Most years he ends up never even reporting. Though you still can’t schedule anything because you don’t know till after 5 the evening before. Last year he was on a trial that he had to sit for 5 days before the jury was even selected. He was the 12th juror selected. The trial lasted over a month. He learned more then he ever wanted to about a certain subject. It was pretty intimidating. He is hoping to not have that experience again.
Strangely I have never been called. My daughter got her first summons 6 months after her 18th birthday. She had to defer and spend her one week of the summer without work or school calling in. Luckily she ended up not having to report. We will see if she gets another summons this summer.</p>

49

<p>A friend of the family always said:
“I would never want my guilt or innocence decided by 12 people who weren’t smart enough to figure out a way to get out of jury duty.” ;)</p>

50

<p>^^^ hahaha</p>

51

<p>It is annoying to do jury duty, but I don’t like the attitude that anyone who can’t get out of it is an idiot.</p>

<p>Any of us may be in a position where we need a legal system that works.</p>

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<p>DrDrewsmom, what your friend doesn’t know is that the system is designed to weed out people who think they’re smarter than anyone who can’t “get out of” jury duty.</p>

<p>Would you want a jury of them deciding your fate?</p>

53

<p>um, I think it was a joke.</p>

54

<p>Too bad that that comment is what alot of people really feel DRD :frowning: - and what has been discussed here as well.</p>

55

<p>I would have avoided the duty if I could have (free to flame me now) but I actually had no excuse to get out of it short of lying which I’d never do. I think the court has the excuse avoidance down pretty well and I suppose it’s probably reasonable. Now, if they can only tweak the system so as not to call so many people who’ll actually not end up on a jury.</p>

56

<p>That day it turned out that they called approximately 200 people to end up filling spots on two juries - that’s about a 13% yield or about 8 times more people than ideally necessary. Even though it’d be difficult to hit the ideal it’d be nice to get a lot closer to it than they do.</p>

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<p>One of the times that I went to jury duty - there were about 100 of us - 74 were utilized (whatevery you call it)/released - 24 were chosen to serve and 10 were dismissed not needed - so sometimes the numbers are necessary.</p>

<p>The last time I went - there were 14 of us - all dismissed - 6 no-snows - oops - no warrent going out to me :)</p>

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<p>ya know how they say it is random who gets called?
My husbands company encourages people to go for jury duty ( as opposed to some companies) and I swear he has served four times in the last 10 years- he always gets picked for a jury too.
He thinks it is interesting, but I admit it does seem that most of the cases could have arrived at the same decision, by using a magistrate.</p>

<p>I have gotten jury duty just a couple times and I haven’t gotten picked- which actually was a huge relief because it would have required much hassle- I also shot evil glances at the attorneys so as not to get chosen, but I didn’t make a fuss like some of the other potential candidates, who were trying to make the point that their time was more important than everyone elses.</p>

<p>I can’t say that I have ever been involved in anything that needed a jury
( I don’t know, do they let you have a jury to contest a traffic ticket? I don’t think you should get a ticket when you are keeping up with traffic and the cop is sitting right where the speed is reduced- not to mention you can’t see the signs because you are surrounded by 18 wheelers. I bet the jury would agree with me on that one! ):wink: </p>

<p>I wouldn’t want to do away with it, but then again I also think that if OJ didn’t have a jury he would be in jail.</p>

59

<p>I get called every three years. In one pool I had to strugle very hard to get out (death penalty case). Had to use very creative excuses. What worked was that," my religion does not allow me to judge other people" (Iguess different skin color and accent helped).</p>

<p>This time heard the judge almost whole day and did not get picked. I was pleasantly surprised that many wanted to be on the jury duty. I learned later that in my county you get paid $6/day for the first day, and when you actually serve you get paid $70/day.</p>

60

<p>My sister was on a sequestered jury in a murder trial. It was very frustrating for her because she was sure the man was guilty, but he was eventually acquitted.</p>