Jury Duty - What's your experience?

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@frazzled1 post #7 “Last year I had grand jury duty, so named because it’s a grand pain in the butt, for 6 weeks. It’s also pointless, and that’s not just my opinion. Pretty much all the other nations (except for Liberia) don’t use them any more, and only about half the US states do. So it is possible to mete out justice without them, but New York has a very entrenched system going, so there you are. “

This! No offense to anyone, but, in my mind, jury duty is among the most ridiculous practices that sets the US apart from the rest of the world:

The system is not transparent and chaotic. This thread is the testament to the lack of understanding of the basic rules and their implementation

The system is disorganized and prone to mistakes. I lost count of how many times the jury notice was sent to friends or family members who should have been excused based on age, (lack of) citizenship, or state residency.

The system is unfair as it puts many jurors (including stay at home moms who need childcare providers, low-wage workers etc) at major economic disadvantage.

The system is very inefficient – how many productive workdays are lost by thousands of jurors playing phone games in jury waiting rooms?

The system is biased and corrupt. It’s painfully clear that many attorneys tend to choose jurors who are more likely to be manipulated or misled.

The system is unjust. If jurors lack basic analytical thinking and critical thinking skills, how are they supposed to make evidence-based decisions that have a major impact on defendant’s life?

The system is offensive. As the first generation immigrant, I am regularly explained how badly I would be prosecuted and punished if I attempt to be excused due to language barrier, and these explanations are always delivered in the most intimidating and threatening way. Just what I want to hear when I come to serve my civic duty. Not to mention that, in spite of receiving several professional degrees in the US, many legal terms routinely used in court proceedings are simply not in my vocabulary. Yes, I can easily deliver a talk to hundreds of people and answer all there questions, but I would still need a dictionary (and sufficient time to use it) to serve as a trial juror. So, I never use language barrier as an excuse, but I always state that I may request additional time or demand explanations during the trial.

The system is morally and ethically disturbing. Many people have no business, desire or stamina to be exposed to disturbing evidence, testimonials and images, and, most importantly, to be forced to effectively determine defendant’s fate. I personally know someone who has lost sleep and needed a therapist after serving in a murder trial.

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Mycupoftea, the post you quoted concerned the GRAND jury system that some states (and the feds) still have, not the regular jury system. A grand jury determines whether someone should be indicted (ie, whether charges should be brought) based on one-sided and secret proceedings in which only the prosecution’s evidence is considered. Totally different from a jury trial.

The right to trial by a jury is a fundamental constitutional right, firmly entrenched in our criminal justice system. Talk to almost any judge, and you’ll hear that his or her experience on the bench has only increased his/her respect for the jury system.

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True, but many points I’ve made stand regardless of the distinction. I have never been selected, so cannot say anything about the experience on the bench. However, I was summoned multiple times, and participated in the selection processes at both state and federal courts, and the process definitely did not instill respect for the system, at least in my personal experience.

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Yes, my complaint was about grand jury service. I struggled with ethical qualms about it because, as @notelling says, the proceedings are secret and one-sided. I asked if I could be placed in the regular jury pool instead, and was told no. Maybe I should have asked if they could put me in 6 regular jury pools, given that grand jury service is a set term of 6 weeks. I even considered abstaining from every vote, and sometimes wish I had.

But although I have no faith in the grand jury system and little faith in my county DA’s office, I think that the right to a jury trial is fundamental to a democracy. And the only way to provide a trial by jury is for citizens to serve as jurors, however little respect the selection process may inspire.

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Having seen jury duty from the other side, I’ll tell you that judges and the courthouse staff really do try to make it as convenient as they can. If the judge knew that there were going to be a lot of motions before court started for the day, he’d have them report an hour later even if that meant we had to wait until 10:00 when we finished those motions at 9:35. He tried to make them comfortable with frequent breaks, water and coffee. He’d work through his own lunch and put off doing other work to get them out as quickly as he could. They do care.

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I find the grand jury system very constructive. A perverted state bureaucracy could actually punish an innocent person by putting the person on trial, and even an acquittal would not change the punitive aspect of the trial. Forcing the state to go before a grand jury is a way to ensure that the state is not prosecuting people wrongly. And that of course is why the process must be completely secret and not transparent: to protect the innocent from the power of the state.

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Dear @mycupoftea : How would you change things? A defendant is entitled by the US Constitution to a trial by a jury of his or her peers. The United States Supreme Court has set standards for how you choose that jury. It can’t just be people who have the time: “Hello AARP members! We need a jury. Come on down!” There are going to be perceived inefficiencies no matter how you pull people in. States have worked very hard to minimize the burden. You get freedoms under the Constitution. You have responsibilities as well.

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I’ve never been called once. I’ve been a registered voter for 36 years.

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@AboutTheSame, You are correct, which is why I dutifully report and do everything I am required to do every time I am summoned (which apparently happens much more often than self-reported by many posters, probably due to my location). I follow all the rules, don’t complain, remain respectful to the officials and to the fellow juror candidates, and do everything in my power to make the process as efficient and smooth as I can. However, this is a two-way street: if the citizens are expected to respect and support the system (as they should do), the system can and should treat its citizens with reasonable respect, efficiency and competence (“reasonable” being the operative word). Unfortunately, my experience did not get close to that level.

I am not going to offer any amateur solutions to the process I am not professionally familiar with, but I refuse to believe that the system I witnessed cannot be made more efficient and competent while still meeting all of the preset standards and requirements (not to mention correcting the trivial and persistent database errors, contradictory information provided from various sources etc). In my own line of work, we constantly change the outdated SOPs to make them more efficient, while still meeting hundreds of federal and state laws, regulations and requirements, and we are not at all different or special.

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Do you work for a governmental body? there is always waste and incompetence when government workers are involved, and that would include the court system.

I’ve been required to call in to see if my jury number was required a few times, but have never been required to go down to the courthouse. I doubt I will ever be on a jury, at this point, which is a shame. I think I’d make a good juror.

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“there is always waste and incompetence when government workers are involved, and that would include the court system.”

@CTTC Are you saying that government is always so inefficient that nothing CAN be done? Or that this is the way the government SHOULD work? Either way, the message is quite depressing, and I sincerely hope that neither is true. I am well familiar with government bureaucracy, waste and incompetence in my homeland. Of course, the big difference is that nobody was expected to ‘respect’ the system…