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I haved served jury duty on 3 occasions. It was an honor. I helped put a rapist murderer behind bars, sat on a civil case that held a large corporation accountable for its policies of knowingly selling defective products, and I helped convict a DUI....
It was an honor to do my duty.
Its not the civic duty if you have a prior commitment to hourly working or school.
I dont believe the state owns my time or my body, and how does stuff like this impact students who don't get excused by professors (which happens often) or those who work an hourly wage?
For me to serve on a jury you better compensate me for my time at a reasonable wage.
I was once asked to serve when I was a freelancer. My contract was supposed to begin, and as a result, I lost a contract worth 4 months of work. In retrospect, paying the fine for not serving would have cost me a lot less money.
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roseba
I was once asked to serve when I was a freelancer. My contract was supposed to begin, and as a result, I lost a contract worth 4 months of work. In retrospect, paying the fine for not serving would have cost me a lot less money.
In your situation I would have compared the losses and then written to the court telling the, at this point and time my Family and employment is more important, I will pay any fines neccassary
Civic duty is defined as "the moral and legal obligations of a citizen." Obviously there are a very small minority who are not responsible, or do not wish to be citizens. In such cases, they would not feel compelled to perform their civic duty. These are typically the kind of people who take their civic responsibilities and their citizenship for granted.
Fortunately, the vast majority of Americans do take their civic duty seriously and contribute responsibly as citizens, despite the hardship they may experience, because they understand the consequences of shirking their duty. Every society is going to have deadbeats and shirkers who want everything their way without making any contribution. It is part of the "entitlement mentality" that is spreading throughout the US. This is typically because they lack the education to understand why their contribution is so important. They don't understand that without citizenship they can not legally obtain a job. They don't understand the consequences of trials without being judged by a jury of their peers. Worst of all, they don't want to understand.
I agree with you in every way. However, if those who don't get out of serving, spend the time and serve, under the guise of "let's get this over with", it's not clear to me that the outcome for the trial would be fair.
And then, who do you have left over among the jury pool?
Last time I served, I was called to voi dire because the person on trial was similar in age and gender as I. I was considered her "peer". But from my perspective, she was NOT MY peer in any way shape or form. I would hate to be on trial and have the jury try to find someone who actually was a peer who was willing to serve.
I think professional jurors would be a better system. They would be less biased, more informed about the law, and less clouded by emotion.
Not to toot my own horn, but I don't even know how likely my chances would be of being chosen anyways. I have above-average intelligence and have a tendency to analyze and scrutinize everything that is placed before me. I'd probably make an excellent attorney, but political aspirations are in my future instead. Anyhow, I've been lead to believe that most attorneys search for less educated, marginally-intelligent people who they could easily mold and sway to their point of view. College students, professors, scientists, engineers, physicians, etc. seem to be a lawyer's worst nightmare, as they will likely be more capable of catching the most diminutive of flaws in a case.
Precisely why we should have professional jurors. I wouldn't want the "left over" to precide over my trial.
You should be able to postpone your jury duty until you are free to serve, I've done it a few times and they were pretty easy on me.
personaly I love Jury duty, it's an educational experiance.
I'd be happier to do it now, now that it wouldn't cause me an enormous hardship.
In your situation I would have compared the losses and then written to the court telling the, at this point and time my Family and employment is more important, I will pay any fines neccassary
I was under 23 and didn't think of that at the time. Also, the summons tend to come in the mail with very little time to write letters to respond.
I agree with you in every way. However, if those who don't get out of serving, spend the time and serve, under the guise of "let's get this over with", it's not clear to me that the outcome for the trial would be fair.
And then, who do you have left over among the jury pool?
Last time I served, I was called to voi dire because the person on trial was similar in age and gender as I. I was considered her "peer". But from my perspective, she was NOT MY peer in any way shape or form. I would hate to be on trial and have the jury try to find someone who actually was a peer who was willing to serve.
I think professional jurors would be a better system. They would be less biased, more informed about the law, and less clouded by emotion.
How would professional jurors be selected? How would we be safe from jury tampering? How would we keep politics out of the jury? Do we use lawyers? I never met one that I would trust with my home address let alone with something really imortant. No we have the right to be judged by our peers, not some political appointee or group of lawyer wanna be's.
I'm in NJ and they postponed my husband's summons when he was in college b/c of exams. I think he had to write a letter to whatever address they tell you to write those special request letters to. He wasn't hassled at all.
Over the past thirty years I have recieved the summons to serve on a jury but I have never been able to make it past the initial telephone interviews. The first two or three times I was an over the road truck driver and I was excused. After I quit trucking and went to work at our local State Penitentiary I received Jury summons at least twice but I guess serving in Corrections is considered the same as law enforcement and I was automatically rejected.
I have been retired for several years and I recieved a summons to serve a year ago. I think the lady that was doing the phone interview just about fainted when I told her I was actually looking forward to serving. They didn't call me back.
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Anyhow, I've been lead to believe that most attorneys search for less educated, marginally-intelligent people who they could easily mold and sway to their point of view. College students, professors, scientists, engineers, physicians, etc. seem to be a lawyer's worst nightmare, as they will likely be more capable of catching the most diminutive of flaws in a case.
