kenzo42

iTrader: (6)

Do you guys just ditch it? I haven't ever been summoned, and one finally showed up in the mail last week.

Do people really get fined for not going? I know so many people who just ignore it.

gompers

iTrader: (4)

The government is charging someone with a crime, and they need your consent to strip away his/her rights and freedom.

Fully Informed Jury Association

Go educate yourself and be a part of the American balance of powers.


EDIT: I like your post count, 666

kenzo42

iTrader: (6)

Yikes, I better post to change that post count.

FRT_Fun

iTrader: (19)

I'm not really to sure about the ramifications of not going, but why not just go?

dpexp

iTrader: (6)

Be a good citizen and show up for your jury duty. Or go live in a cave in Afghanistan.

FRT_Fun

iTrader: (19)

I can tell you from experience, you don't want that. Although you are actually lucky to find a cave, "under the stars" isn't that fun in a combat zone.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

if you're ever wrongfully convicted of a crime, do you want only the rejects on your jury, or do you want educated indivuduals such as yourself there to make important decisions about your future?

airbrush1

y8's has it right.... do your civic duty and go

y8s

iTrader: (8)

that said, jury duty in oakland, ca was a crazy thing. I got called once and got to the last round before being dismissed.

it was for a double murder trial with special circumstances--meaning the jury can pick between life in prison or the death penalty.

fucked up.

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

I've only been summoned once, and was dismissed pretty early on. Trial was a dude accused of raping a 12 year old. Fucked up.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

always go to jury duty because you always want to make millions on the book deal.

Mach929

iTrader: (3)

it's fucked up that i've be summoned twice and had to go even though they can't legally pick me because my grandfather and uncle both work in the court house so there's potentially a conflict of interest.....yet i still have to show up.

one of them was some guy accused of raping some girl at a mcdonalds.....

curly

iTrader: (25)

Summoned twice by the age of 21, both times getting out of it due to me being in school. Haven't been summoned for the three years since then though.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I've only ever been summoned once, in north San Diego county.

First, you sit in a large room with a whole bunch of other people, and they take roll. There were several hundred folks the day I was there. A judge came in and greeted us all with a short motivational speech about what an awesome thing the American court system is, after which we watched a short video about the responsibility we had upholding the foundations of due process and such.

Then you just sit there, and wait to be called.

Bring a book. A good one.

Throughout the course of the day, as new trials are about to begin, they come in and call large groups of people to then go the the courtroom, maybe 30-40 at a time. My group was called about two hours after lunch. You go to a courtroom, and they sort you out. 12 people are chosen as the primaries and go to the jury box. The rest go to the seats behind the bar. I was #8 out of the 12.

Then you are given a questionnaire. It was handed to us on sheets of paper, and we answered it verbally to the judge. At that point, council begin asking specific questions of prospective jurors, and dismissing people either foe specific causes or for no cause at all (they have a finite number of the latter).

My case was a young man of Mexican origin (who did not speak much English and was a resident alien) charged with a sexual offense against a child. The prosecuting attorney dismissed me during the first round without asking any questions, presumably because I was either not as white as she'd have liked, or not as married as she'd have liked, or both. Which is ironic, as if the allegations against the dude were in any way remotely true, I'd have probably been among the ones recommending capital punishment. (Not that we have the death penalty in San Diego, but you get my drift.)


Seriously, though. I don't recommend skipping out. Putting aside all the talk about civic duty and such, it's worth it just to get a glimpse of how the court system works.

ApexOnYou

iTrader: (10)

I got summoned before I was even 18. I recieved the letter a few weeks before my 18th birthday, the date was a couple of days after. Thought that was really wierd.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

In CA they pull it from voter registration and SSS. I am registered up north with SSS, down south to vote. I got jury duty in both places before I was 20.

In SLO County, you actually call the night before and an automated machine tells you whether they need you or not. I called each night, they didn't need me, I didn't go, until I called on Wednesday and they said thanks for your service.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

42 years old. Never been called for jury duty. I say it's because I don't register to vote. People disagree with me on this saying that it isn't tied to voter registration here, but my "not registered-never been called to jury duty" record seems to stand for itself. My wife is registered to vote and has been called 2-3 times in the 11 years that we have been married.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I don't buy it. I never registered to vote in CA, and that's the only place I got summoned. Never updated SSS after I left FL either.

What I've heard (and it seems plausible) is that a lot of places are pulling their lists from the drivers license registration records nowadays, as it's a much more complete database. Probably wouldn't work in Manhattan, but everywhere else, pretty much everybody has a drivers license.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

I don't know. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I honestly don't see why Jury Duty has got such a bad rap, honestly. I mean, worst case scenario is that have to listen to a couple of overpaid *********** duke it out for a while and then you get to vote whether or not to ban someone from life. It's like being a moderator, only with free food.