I have been called and served 4 times in the last 5 years. I rather like it because instead of bitching about crime/criminals/politics and all that I actually get to *do* something. I feel that if I'm ever accused of a crime and it goes to trial I don;t wanna be judged by a jury of 12 folks who are pissed 'cause they couldn't get out of jury duty.
It's a basic right - to be tried by a jury of 12 instead of being tried by one man who wants to judge me.
Lots of places are moving to hiring/retaining "professional jurors" because getting enough qualified jurors from the general public is getting to be difficult, impossible, and expensive weeding them out. Hiring people who have been vetted and retaining them to hear evidence (once approved by the attorneys) speeds the whole process up and we get fewer imbeciles sitting on a jury.
I like doing it and signed up to be called at a higher rate to ease the burden on those who don't wanna do it. Which seems to be pretty much everyone now days.
VooDoo
I feel the same way. I've been in court a lot because of evil ex-wives and other evil idiots. The Judges in 99% of the cases already have their minds made up.
For those of you who do everything that you can to get out of Jury duty, I sympathize with whatever income loss you may incur by being there. It sucks but I wished they would pay jurors more.
Now let's put this in another perspective. Let's say you are charged with first degree murder even though you shot a POS in self defense. Consider for a moment how prosecuting attorneys will cast you in a bad light. I've seen it. They don't care whether you live or die.
They want you convicted so they can add you to their 99% conviction rate just so they can get reelected because the average voter thinks that they are tough on crime.
Seriously ask yourself if you were wrongfully accused, do you want a bunch of pissed off idiots on a jury who have the attitude of
"let's just hang him and get it over with?"
I've been in court cases when people that I thought were my friends didn't want to testify and others went out of their way to help me by telling the truth about me. I could not thank my real friends enough for their courage and loyalty. The same goes for someone who wants to do their civic duty and give someone a fair trial.
For those people who bitch and moan about losing money cause they are on a Jury, I would ask you to consider what an innocent defendant is going through. They could lose much more because of incompetent, pissed off jurors.
On the other side of the coin is the problem of the guilty person going free. Don't you think the victim(s) of a guilty person's criminal act would appreciate having an intelligent and honest person on a Jury who's not afraid to vote for a conviction to get justice done? Think about the victim that's been deprived of life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.
It's wrong to pay Jurors so little money while the idiot Judges and crooked attorneys get paid so much. But until that is ever changed, an honest and intelligent Juror is the one way that justice will ever be served in a courtroom.
