ABC news saw fit to film a story on the avoidance of Jury Duty.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo....2&src=news

After a few minutes of their wacky see how crazy everyone is about avoiding jury duty story, they publish a stat that says 84% of americans see it as a duty to be performed, even if inconveinent.

So, aside from the total crap bit of "journalism" presented here. What are your thoughts on jury duty?

served twice

once - was big power co vrs private property owner

second was - small town murder case

it is what it is, jury duty

I've been called twice when I was in the military but easily got out of it with a letter from my supervisor.

I'm not sure if I've ever been called for it as a Civilian as I don't read paper mail anymore

I served on a civil trial. I was foreperson of my jury. It was fun. We ate salt water taffy and salsa danced in the jury room.

I've received two notices for jury duty in the last 2 years and each time they end up not even calling me in for an interview.

Possibly because I'm a reporter, not sure. I really wanna do jury duty.

i went and it was canceled everyone cheered...I prayed so hard for something to happen so I can get out of it...the thought of going makes me cringe.

I have been called three times, I served once.

At the start of the trial, I was an alternate juror. I ended up jury foreman.

Not guilty.

Stax said:

Did you salsa dance in the jury room too?

I served on two criminal juries....a felony larceny case (in Louisiana, any theft over $100 is considered a felony) and a rape/assault case...I was the foreperson (PC, ya know!) on both.....

....and I got out of being on a civil jury because it was Christmas-time at Macy's and that's when my commission checks were at their biggest...so I pleaded to be released on financial cause grounds.....

I'm so cute!!!

i served on a triple homicide of three immigrant children by their uncle and cousinlast year (june 23-aug 16). i burned 8 weeks of paid time from my job (i week of jury of duty, 2 weeks vacation, 5 weeks of sick time). they paid us $50 a day to serve, but i make $160 a day when i work, so i had to use the time just to keep my bills paid. most of us along, some didn't and it came really close to be another mistrial.
we did get convictions on those bastards, but the whole thing kinda soured me on the judicial process. there was so much explicit evidence (including each defendant accusing the other of the murders)that we didn't get to hear. apparently, all the parties involved in the case ( the judge, lawyers, court clerks and even the sheriffs) knew they were guilty, but we has to make our own decision (with about 30% of the evidence). fortunately, there was DNA evidence that the lawyers couldn't talk away, in the end, i just felt those kids deserved a lot better.
[Edited 7/17/07 4:12am]

It scared me when I did it - Not the actual process, but the fact that other people's lives were in the hands of a group of strangers whom didn't have half a brain cell between them.

It's frightening that you have to take intelligence tests to apply for the most menial of jobs, but so long as you have a pulse you can be called up for jury service regardless.

On the second trial I attended, one of the jurors actually told the group, "Let's just find him guilty and get it over with. I have to be at a wedding reception by six pm"...

The highlight of my week was being told by an elderly granny to "shut the fuck up" whilst we were deliberating.

Happily for me, both trials I sat on, found the defendants "not guilty". There was absolutely no proof in either case - there really wasn't.

Teachers always get asked to serve on a jury cause the district will give us paid time off. I have served on a jury twice and was uber close to being on a jury that for a well publicized national case that I probably would have been on had I not had a preplanned vacation. I had to bring in my tickets and everything since I was one of the final 25 panelists.

I've been called once, but I haven't served

the master got his notice last week for september. He is looking forwards to it

I've been called three times and each time my father has informed them that I'm out here in Thailand. They won't give up though.

I got one, lost the form and couldn't find it, but it turned up a week after it already happened. I was afraid I would be fined for not showing up but nothing happened. And to be honest, I was going through some emotional issues at the time, and didn't want my personal feelings to get in the way of whatever it was for

CarrieMpls said:

No!

Been called 5 times, served on one. It was a criminal trial for gun charges, armed robbery, conspiracy and aggravaged assault.
These guys robbed some guy in a place called Ball Busters Pool Hall. They stuck him up with a gun, shot the ceiling and placed the barrel against the guy's neck, which left a nasty burn. They had the gun it evidence, the sucker was huge.
Four of them were on trial. When one of them took the stand, a cop sat next to him. I wondered why, then figured out that he was already in jail on unrelated charges. If you are in court while you are serving time, a cop perches right next to ya so you can't make a break for it.
We found them guilty.
My job then paid me, so I basically got a free paid vacation and didn't lose any of my time. I also got to keep the jury duty money.

Have never had to serve, thank God because my employer will pay for every day I am there

I served once.
Serious assault with a machete.
We found him guilty.

CarrieMpls said:

I can sooooo see you doing that all sassy with ya red hair

I like George Carlin's ramblings on jury duty: "Tell them the truth. Tell them you can spot criminals (snaps fingers) JUST LIKE THAT! Say it's all in the distance between the eyes. Measure the judge. He'll like that."

I have jury duty in two weeks. I don't get called...

I've been called to serve three times so far but I've never sat on a jury because I have no desire to do so.


The first time I got called was 9-11-01, so of course they sent everyone home by 11AM.

The second time was in 2004 and this time I actually got to tell the judge I didn't want to sit on a jury, so she dismissed me. Of course I had to wait until Three in the afternoon to do so, having to sit there since 8AM.

The third time was just last year and the judge got an attiude with me when I repeated what I said to the other judge back in '04 that I didn't want to sit on a jury. He said to me "I'm sure you don't want to pay taxes but you do anyway right"? I answered him, he talked to me so more wasting mines and the courts time, then finally get's a clue and sees I ain't changing my mind and proceeds to warn me "Your on my radar now" like that's supposed to scare me! I don't brake the law so unless I get called again I probably won't see the bastard

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/h...287226.stm

muirdo said:

That's terrible!

I don't think the general public gets called for jury duty in Sweden. At least I've never heard of that happening to anyone. I think we instead have "professional" jurors that are familiar with the law, which I frankly prefer over having Joe Schmoe deciding over things they might not be qualified to analyze properly.

retina said:

They need that system here in the US, I think it's stupid that they call people ,LIKE ME!!, who have no desire to be a juror.

Abdul said:

The system that US uses is kind of reminiscent of the Draft back during the Vietnam War Times. Instead of Draft Dodging back in 60's/70's, people are now attempting the Jury Duty Dodge.

Abdul said:

Plus it doesn't seem fair to the accused since untrained jurors are probably more likely to judge emotionally, and in really difficult cases where common sense tells you the person is obviously guilty but he isn't guilty in the legal sense (because of flawed technical evidence or whatnot), it must be hard for an untrained juror to go for the acquittal even though they should.

What is the rationale for the jury duty system? Is it something idealistic about being "judged by your peers"? Or is it to keep the jurors from getting jaded and crass? Or is it to make sure that the jury is so randomly picked that nobody could ever accuse it of being selected based on race or religion? That would actually make some sense if that's the case. I'm still not sure that I'd pick an untrained jury over a professional one though.