Jury Duty

Required by law.

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If you don’t you go to jail. 

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If the defendant is convicted, I think that makes him/her a con.
If the defendant is not convicted, it could mean they are a pro.

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I report to jury duty because (aside from it being a lawful duty) I’d like to think that if I’m ever on trial, someone like myself won’t slack off—I want a thoughtful person to hear my side of the story. It’s only a small portion of time to give, anyway. Also, for the system to work, we need to be active citizens. Go rent “12 Angry Men” or even “To Kill a Mockingbird”—in the latter, especially, you can see why educated, thoughtful jurors are necessary, why people are needed on juries who will speak truth. These are people’s lives we’re asked to have an effect on, after all. I’m sure there are more great cinematic examples, but those are two that come to mind first. As mentioned in the following link, I find David Simons’ perspective interesting and worthy of discussion. Maybe you will, too:
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/03/28/jury-nullification-david-simon-and-the-texas-prosecutor/   

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[quote=Samantha Stephens] I got a summons(or whatever you want to call it) to be a potential candidate for jury duty, and quite frankly I dont want to do this.[/quote]

So you will be revoking your American citizenship?  Jury duty is part of the responsibility that comes with living in this here USA. 

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jury duty is worth doing once just so you can see how our insane legal system works, and how insanely ignorant the average citizen is! trust me, after doing this, you’ll never ever want to be arrested in this country again! you’ll go out of your way to insure that you never ever have to trust your life to these pinheads.

that said, it’s super easy to get out of: just tell them you think the death penatly isn’t strong enough. seriously! they’ll think you’re nuts and let you leave. works every time.

(I don’t see how it being required by law as a “pro”. doing something against my will is always a “con”.)

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Would you rather leave it all up to a judge and lawyers?

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[quote=St. Hubert]jury duty is worth doing once just so you can see how our insane legal system works, and how insanely ignorant the average citizen is! trust me, after doing this, you’ll never ever want to be arrested in this country again! you’ll go out of your way to insure that you never ever have to trust your life to these pinheads.

that said, it’s super easy to get out of: just tell them you think the death penatly isn’t strong enough. seriously! they’ll think you’re nuts and let you leave. works every time.

(I don’t see how it being required by law as a “pro”. doing something against my will is always a “con”.)[/quote]

Maybe we could just have a Soviet style criminal justice system instead……

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I’ve been on two juries. Only one of them involved exciting penalties, but neither involved death. The jury on the assault trial didn’t have a say in the penalty, only the charge. (The other was an eviction.) There were some very different types of people on them, but it was a situation where every person’s opinion mattered, and you had to work with them. I can see where that might be “against your will” (a.k.a., inconvenient), but that’s what adults do. I still consider that a “pro”, because it was a chance to see something from a different perspective.

Also, what Becky said is right on! Seriously, you like to read books, right? Bring a book for the waiting times, and enjoy the day off work. Sheesh.

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I’ve pulled Jury duty 2 times and only once had the sense to bring a book.  Both have been drunk driving cases where I had to wait to see if I had to be called for the selection process.  After the first time I realized that I would most likely be dismissed from the jury once they found out that one of my best friends in highschool was crippled from the waist down by a drunk driver.  This coupled with my honest take that the presumption of innocense is a crock and that in my mind there is a presumption of guilt in this type of case.  I say honest not that my belief is true, but rather this is what I believe when I honestly think about it, therefore I wouldn’t want me on the jury if I were in the defendants shoes.  The second time I offered this up right away to speed up the process for everyone and was excused.  No need to get all goofy about it.  It still blows the morning but I do my civic duty by showing up.  Maybe someday I’ll get something sweet like eviction.

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I should explain for the sake of my missus what ‘chop chop square’ is.  My brother who just got out of the Air Force after serving for 28 years was stationed for awhile in Saudi Arabia, probably about 20 years ago.  He called the place where Islamic retributive justice is carried out (e.g. amputating the hands of thieves) ‘chop chop square’.   I remember asking him about how they dealt with a variety of offenses and all he said was ‘they just take them down to chop chop square’.    My brother has been back in Michigan for the past few months and I have enjoyed hanging out a little more with him.  The fact that he married a woman from Thailand who is an astoundingly excellent cook doesn’t hurt either…

Also, as wizzy said if you are ever called for jury duty bring plenty of reading material.  I have had to report maybe 3 or 4 times in my life, still haven’t made it to an actual jury.  I will consider it an honor when I do. 

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I dont report till January 21st.  Afterwards I will give a full report of all the details.

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[quote=Herb Tarlick]

Maybe we could just have a Soviet style criminal justice system instead……[/quote]

I hope you’re being sarcastic. because I’d hate to think you honestly think our justice system is 100% optimal right now. the juries I’ve been on and the stories I’ve heard from my girlfriend and my friends, are all about knee-jerk judgments by people that seem to have no interest in weighing all sides fairly. they all seem to have their minds made up before the jury begins to discuss the case. doesn’t that stink of total lameness of intellect, and lack of pride in citizenship? Opinion is king in our culture right now. Do you really want citizens of that caliber to be weighing your civil case?

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I’ve always wanted to serve on jury duty - mainly for the experience of it. I’ve only been called once and the parties involved settled within minutes of the jury selection beginning. I was pretty bummed. I hope I get called again but for some reason I never get called.

I think a comical way of getting out of jury duty would be while the jury selection is going on is to light a smoke and shout out “Go to Hell” or “Bullshit” whenever the judge or lwayers opened their mouth to say something.

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If you get 12 citizens in a room, chances are that some will be idiots. But you have the rest to persuade them toward reason.

And those 12 rely on a system that goes like this:

The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

To prove the accused guilty, the prosecutor must go against a defense.

The prosecutor and the defense must fight their damnedest in their roles, no matter if they think the accused guilty or innocent.

The judge must keep the mechanics of the trial working in fair order.

The jury — unless it’s a little civil case — must come to a unanimous decision based on the proof or lack of they see in the two sides’ arguments.

There are a number of ways a trial can become a mistrial, and be forced to start over. Or be appealed.

This is a system set up under the assumption that things will never be “100% optimal.” That there will be some idiots, crooks, dishonest souls in the mix. To avoid toppling over if a leg fails, this stool is given four legs. Or 15 legs, if we include all members of the jury.

What kind of fantasy system do you have in mind, Hubert, that is optimal and perfect?

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[quote=Arthur]
What kind of fantasy system do you have in mind, Hubert, that is optimal and perfect?
[/quote]

I have no idea where you see that I think that I have answers. all i’m saying is that, while ours might be the best thing going, it’s got a long way to go to be perfect. you summed up what I said just fine. it’s got a good percentage of idiots in the mix, and that’s enough for me to never wish our judicial system on anyone. I don’t know if you have seen stats on the number of innocent people convicted, but I’d hate to be one of those people. worse is that we have innocent people being put to death. excuse me for thinking that’s horrifying.
in fact, I’d agree with people here that we SHOULD do jury duty just to keep a steady influx of halfway intelligent people on the panel.

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at least Napoleon will be part of the well hung jury if the case gets into deliberations and tribulations.

I have been summoned a few times but every time I show up the shit gets settled right before I get there.  I, like most of you, really want to go and be involved with the judicial system. 

One of my old co-workers was from Saudi Arabia.  He’d be out chilling with his friends at the local bazaar and a hush would fall over the crowd as a man walked through the sea of people.  Hey, it’s the local province’s beheader.  Party.  I’d be all about the New Testament where thought crimes are punishable like coveting, thinking, laying with someone’s ass, good times.

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