Jury duty

[Valvalis]

I didn't see a thread about this anywhere, so I figured I'd post one. What are everyone's thoughts on jury duty?

If you live in a country that has it, have you ever been called for it, or had to serve on a jury?

Is it a good system for selecting jurors?

Is it fair that it's often mandatory?

How about people who are exempt from it based on their jobs being considered civic duty already--where do you think they should draw the line on what qualifies as civic duty and what doesn't?

I thought of this because I found out today that I got a summons in the mail for jury duty at the end of the month, again This is my second summons so far (first one was 4 years ago), and I'm really not looking forward to it. When I went last time, they had me come in the day before a final exam, and I missed an important review lecture D= They didn't choose me because (I think, anyway) they figured I would be too stressed out about the exam to concentrate; but it was still irritating to have to go in, considering I wasn't registered to vote at the time and I'd always heard that that was the only way they could ask you. (I had recently gotten a passport though, so I've always suspected it may have had something to do with that So a note to everyone who hasn't had it: don't assume that if you're not registered to vote, you're not eligible. It varies from place to place, but I would advise checking the rules for your particular area, because there's a good chance you might be.)

And even though I also had missed work that day, from being stuck there for 8 hours, even though they're supposed to pay you "compensation," they sent me a check for only $14.00 O_O That was far less than what I would have made by being at work, so I ended up losing money because of it. I'm not sure how they decide how much compensation you're supposed to get, but if it's way under what you would normally make for the time spent, that seems kind of cheesy and unfair to me.

And if you could actually choose what day you went in, so long as it was within a certain period of time, I think it would be much more fair, and easier for many people to deal with. I mean even if you had bought plane tickets to go somewhere that day, and had a trip all planned out, I'm pretty sure they can still make you come in, and that's absolute rubbish, IMO Where I live anyway, you can only push the date back one time, and you can't choose it yourself, so what if they push it back to another date that's bad for you? O_O

A random selection does seem like a fairly effective concept for selecting unbiased jurors; however, because the individual twelve jurors are eventually selected by human court members once you get there, is the lack of bias still 100% guaranteed to hold up? It seems a little iffy to me.

Anyways I have many more thoughts, but I'd like to hear everyone else's first before I post them

 

[blakstang98]

I think the US system for selecting jury is good, actually. Of course, you sit there and curse it when you get selected, but I think it's a fair system overall. It assures unbiased selection for the case in question, and takes a fairly large group of people into consideration. And just showing up to fill out the questionairre qualifies as your civil duty. I never knew that certain jobs were already exempt from having to serve jury duty. Interesting.

I was selected back in 2006 after I graduated college. It turns out it was the Michael Derderian trial. For those of you not familiar with this gentleman, he was the owner of The Station night club in West Warwick, Rhode Island. The Station burned down to the ground when the group Great White performed there and some pyrotechnics were used. A total of 100 people died in this fire, which was one of the biggest tragedies in Rhode Island history. I sort of felt honored to be selected, but on the same token, I would have missed a good amount of time at work for this trial. Because I was somewhat familiar with the case already, as many people were, I filled out the questionairre, and was relieved of duty. It was going to be hard to find a legit jury because of all the publicity this story got, even nationally.

 

[Rydrum2112]

I have been "summoned" but was excused because I am in graduate school and live 5 hours from where the court house is.

I don't know if it works or not because we have no other system to really compare it too. Obviously if you don't register to vote you wont be called, and thus it doesn't produce a demand on all "citizens" equally.

 

[Kandy-Sugar]

What are everyone's thoughts on jury duty?

Don't like it. >.< I don't think the brains of the public to decide on what should happen to a person is all that smart.

I mean, some people don't even want to be there and just want a decision made fast so that they can go home. They don't really care about what's actually going on.

Not everyone, but I can imagine most would be like that.

If you live in a country that has it, have you ever been called for it, or had to serve on a jury?

I was called for jury duty a few years ago but was excused with a letter from my manager, as no one else knows how to do my job and I can just up and leave work like that.

Is it a good system for selecting jurors?

I'm not really fond of the whole random selection. Personally I don't like the idea of it. =/

Is it fair that it's often mandatory?

I don't think it's fair at all. I think people should be able to tick a box on a form or something like when you tick a box to say you're an organ doner.

You should have the choice as to whether you'd like to do it or not and chances are the people they select from in that group are going to be more reliable etc. It'd save them a lot of time and such.

 

[Shu]

What are everyone's thoughts on jury duty?

If you live in a country that has it, have you ever been called for it, or had to serve on a jury?

Is it a good system for selecting jurors?

Is it fair that it's often mandatory?

1) What are everyone's thoughts on jury duty:

Thoughts? Meh, It just means I have to miss work, backing me up further then any other day. I hate our court systems as is to be honest, so doing juror is a slight nag for me. Whatever though, everyone has to do it one time or another.

2) Have you ever been called for jury duty?

No.

3) Is it a good system for selecting jurors?

Not to sure how I feel to be honest, you get a lot of random people yes. Though the choices are sometimes mental. I honestly believe with all the money tax payers pay we should have professional jurors that have seen cases before, not just on TV/Movies.

4) Is it fair to be mandatory?

Nope though it's been like this in the US of A for some time. So what's news.. most people get out of it.

 

[coffeecup]

What are everyone's thoughts on jury duty?

If you live in a country that has it, have you ever been called for it, or had to serve on a jury?

Is it a good system for selecting jurors?

Is it fair that it's often mandatory?

How about people who are exempt from it based on their jobs being considered civic duty already--where do you think they should draw the line on what qualifies as civic duty and what doesn't?

Well I'm just going to talk about this as how I think it fits in the scheme of the criminal justice system, not the civil system. So despite its flaws, it's most important aspect, imo, is its symbolic nature as the express denunciation of certain conduct by society. There's a lot of discussion about the justification of the punishment system, but I think in the end, it's not a system that's based on some moral truth or philosophical idea; it's just punishing what our society believes to be wrong. And the jury is supposed to be a reflection of this societal condemnation.

As a little side note in support of my view, there is a little something called jury nullification. Despite how much evidence and law is against the defendant in a criminal trial, the jury can always find "not guilty" so long as they don't make it apparent that they're going to use this nullification power. The judge can overturn a verdict of guilty; however, he cannot overturn one of innocence. If the people don't want to punish someone, then the State is basically impotent to do so.

If you live in a country that has it, have you ever been called for it, or had to serve on a jury?

Nope.

Is it a good system for selecting jurors?

Well, in order to determine whether or not it's a good system you need to look at the foundation of our legal system. And as per criminal punishment with the underlying assumption that punishment is justified (well there are other arguments of deterrence and retribution, I don't buy rehabilitation, that play some parts) for the most party by this denunciation factor, the jury is pivotal in bringing this idea into reality. The problem with relying on a judge or a small subsection of the population to make this determination is that it will tend to be a skewed representation of society. They're decision will always be a shadow of their own prejudices. Naturally this risk doesn't disappear by picking from a wider cross-section, but it's less risky. As to how much, your guess is as good as mine.

And if you're still skeptical of the jury trial and you ever find yourself in the situation of being a defendant in a criminal prosecution, you can always waive your right to a jury trial.

Is it fair that it's often mandatory?

It's not mandatory in the sense that you cannot be excused from jury duty. There's a lot of ways to get around jury duty if it's necessary. But if you're just lazy...

I don't really see it as a matter of "fairness" to have jury duty. It's necessary as a justification for dishing out state-instituted punishment.