Would you be a jury member? (1 Viewer)

[Mr X]

If you were called up for jury duty, would you be keen to take up the opportunity, or would you try to avoid it?

 

[davidtaylorjr]

If you were called up for jury duty, would you be keen to take up the opportunity, or would you try to avoid it?

Yes, it is a civic duty.

 

[JayDubya]

I would try to take part.

They tend to weed out anyone who reads, anyone who pays attention to the news, anyone who knows what the letters DNA stand for; they'd rather have the "lay-mest" of the laymen as sponges to just soak up whatever their "experts" say.

They also try to weed out anyone who believes in jury nullification of stupid laws.

 

[Fisher]

I can't be because they don't want lawyers to dominate the other jurors, but I would try to avoid it even if I weren't. In my area, the juries get jerked around a lot. You have to serve for a whole month for which you are on 24 hour call and most of the time you show up, the trial never happens. It can be a huge pain in the arse for people with jobs.

 

[Mason66]

I would try to take part.

They tend to weed out anyone who reads, anyone who pays attention to the news, anyone who knows what the letters DNA stand for; they'd rather have the "lay-mest" of the laymen as sponges to just soak up whatever their "experts" say.

They also try to weed out anyone who believes in jury nullification of stupid laws.

They end up with mostly city and federal government employees because they are they only employers that pay for jury duty.

 

[Northern Light]

I would avoid it because I no longer support our "justice" system as it currently stands.

 

[Aderleth]

If you were called up for jury duty, would you be keen to take up the opportunity, or would you try to avoid it?

Depends. I'd be happy to take on a 2-3 trial. Anything longer than a week would screw me out of lots of money, and the $10/day stipend jurors get ain't much of a consolation.

 

[Helix]

i almost had to. made it into selection, and then they settled the case. i went in with a good attitude, but when i saw what the case was about and that the defendant would not be testifying, i planned to try to get out of it by telling the truth. they were asking each juror if he or she could be objective if the defendant did not testify. for me, the answer would have been no.

i'm not eager to go through that again, but i'll do it if i absolutely have to. it was the most boring six hours imaginable, and the lawyers on both sides talked to us like we were children.

 

[Mason66]

i almost had to. made it into selection, and then they settled the case. i went in with a good attitude, but when i saw what the case was about and that the defendant would not be testifying, i planned to try to get out of it by telling the truth. they were asking each juror if he or she could be objective if the defendant did not testify. for me, the answer would have been no.

i'm not eager to go through that again, but i'll do it if i absolutely have to. it was the most boring six hours imaginable, and the lawyers on both sides talked to us like we were children.

Most of the time, if it is a criminal trial, if you tell them you think pólice officers are porfessional liars, they will not choose you.

 

[OscarB63]

I always get booted from the jury pool as soon as the defense lawyer hears that I am a military cop

 

[RosieS]

I have a permanent exemption due to immune suppression. Being forced into close quarters with strangers for an indefinite length of time is a health hazard for real.

Regards from Rosie

 

[soccerboy22]

I've been called, but never served. Once it was because the jury week was during my finals and the judge excused me. Second time was when both sides found out I was a law student.

 

[Mr X]

Depends. I'd be happy to take on a 2-3 trial. Anything longer than a week would screw me out of lots of money, and the $10/day stipend jurors get ain't much of a consolation.

Are US jury members unable to claim loss of earnings from the court if their employer chooses not to pay them for time off work??

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/what-you-can-claim

 

[Aderleth]

Are US jury members unable to claim loss of earnings from the court if their employer chooses not to pay them for time off work??

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/what-you-can-claim

Not the way it looks like you can in the UK. Basically, if your employer doesn't pay for jury service, you can typically claim that being required to serve would constitute a hardship. This does not mean that you can be reimbursed for lost income. It does mean that you might be excused from jury service (especially long trials). However, it's largely up to the judge how they interpret what constitutes a hardship. Personally, I have twice in the last two years been called up to serve on a month long trial. I'm an attorney, but I work as an independent contractor, which means that I'm not a salaried employee of anyone, and if I'm not working, I'm not making money. In the first case I was called up for, the judge felt that was a satisfactory excuse to get out of jury service. In the second case, the judge felt that I made too much money (in general) for an entire month of lost income to constitute a hardship. Fortunately I was able to get out of that case for other reasons (I had a very tenuous link to the law firms representing the plaintiff).

So the long and the short of it is that long-term jury service can and does totally screw Americans from time to time.

 

[TheGirlNextDoor]

If you were called up for jury duty, would you be keen to take up the opportunity, or would you try to avoid it?

Been there, done that.

Hopefully don't have to do it again for a long while.

 

[braymoore]

I would love to take part. Always been an interest of mine.

 

[joko104]

Never been called. Would try to get out of it. Would be struck by one side or the other anyway.

For example, to the question "Would you follow the judge's instructions?" My truthful answer, "no, not if I disagree."

"Would you make your verdict based on the law?" My truthful answer: "No, not if I think the result would be unjust."

That pretty much would keep me off any jury. My wife has been summoned for jury duty. They didn't ever want her either nor did she want to serve on a jury. For one, apparently a major trial, they handed out one of those questionaires. She took the 5th to answering under the theory my private life, beliefs and views are "none of anyone's business."

 

[longview]

I have served on a Jury, it was an interesting experience.
They told me I could not take notes during the trial, I thought that was odd.

 

[joko104]

They end up with mostly city and federal government employees because they are they only employers that pay for jury duty.

Add retired people.

 

[joko104]

I have served on a Jury, it was an interesting experience.
They told me I could not take notes during the trial, I thought that was odd.

That was probably that particular judge's decision.

 

[penn1954]

If you were called up for jury duty, would you be keen to take up the opportunity, or would you try to avoid it?

I was on a jury for a murder trial 2 yrs ago.
3 days long, quite interesting in a way but it
scared the daylights out of me.

These people didn't give a damn about the killing,
the people in the neighborhood wouldn't talk to the police,
the only way that an arrest was made was that a man
from out-of-town called police and met police half way.

I don't think I want to do it again.

 

[CanadaJohn]

If you were called up for jury duty, would you be keen to take up the opportunity, or would you try to avoid it?

I have been on a jury, and while at times it's incredibly boring and you sit around a lot, I found it quite interesting on the whole and I enjoyed the experience.

 

[Ray410]

I was Foreman of the local Grand Jury for a couple years. We would meet every other Wednesday and the Asst. DA's would present their cases, sometimes witnesses and victims and we would vote to indict or not. It was always major crimes, murders, kidnappings, rapes and big drug busts. Extremely interesting. You always knew what was going on in town. I worked for a local relatively large corporation that continued your salary for that day. It was good duty.

 

[Thoreau72]

Colbert claims that the only thing americans like less than reading is jury duty. That seems fairly accurate, although the poll here makes one wonder.

 

[ashurbanipal]

I can choose neither option as I will serve if called, but am neither anxious to do so, or avoid doing so. That said, I don't think most attorneys like philosophers on the jury.