Jury Duty
 

So I had jury duty for the first time in my life yesterday and let me tell you, it was boring as hell. I wasted 9 hours of my time to get paid $12.00. LAME:thumbdown

I didnt even get called to the jurors box, the lawyer asked the 12 jurors that got called to the jurors box the same long questions over and over again. They excused 5 and called 5 more and started asking them the same question. So basically I sat there all day for this. Waste of tax payers money if you ask me. The case was about a stupid traffic accident.

Anyone else feel the way I do?

Re: Jury Duty
 

HANG THE FUCKING BASTARDS I SAY !!!!

if you get jury duty? will you divulge the naughty stories on the case?? :yowsa:

Re: Jury Duty
 

Before I got my Juris Doctor, I used to think jury duty sucked and it was bullshit. And then once I understand the system, I thought about it like this.

In today's age, with our ballooning government and abundance of statutes honest people sometimes are wrongly accused and find their way into court. The jury system is the 'check' of that.

You should think of it kind of like an honor. The attorney's via voir dire, and our laws find you intelligent and capable of deciding either the guilt of someone or settling a dispute with very real consequences which both parties are very concerned about (civil cases). You have been selected to be the judge and remedy the situation as best you see fit.

Another way to look at it is what if you were the person wronged or wrongly accused of a crime, or the victim of a crime. In that situation you would hope that the jury is just and attentive.

I have voted in every election including midterms (excluding just local) since I turned 18. It's like voting. As Americans we have so much more freedoms and rights and opportunities than 98% of the rest of the world. And one of those rights is to take pictures of simple young girls, and peddle porn on the internet and make gobs of money.

Re: Jury Duty
 

Ok, I would buy this....BUT....

The real problem is the whole judicial system is clogged full of bullshit that should never see a lawyer let alone a courtroom. It's a drain on resources and taxpayer dollars. Not to mention what things like malpractice suits do to the cost of healthcare.

I'm busy, my day is worth more than $12. In fact, when you impact me, you impact lots of people who depend upon me and their lives as well. Now I"m ok with this for something important. But I'm absolutley livid if the experience is like April's where you just sit all day or worse you put me on some case that should've never seen the light of day.

One quick fix: LOSER PAYS

Will never happen, but imagine a world where anytime there's a legal action the loser has to pay all court and legal fees.

Re: Jury Duty
 

That's the thing, your day was wasted even though you didn't get sat for a jury.

Getting out of being sat for a case is easy, but now they still insist upon you being there all damned day long.

Re: Jury Duty
 

What pisses me off the most about being called for jury, is you have to be there or you go to jail. That doesnt seem very fair to me, thats basically sending an innocent person to jail. My time is worth more than $12.00. By the time I bought some food and coffee for the day since I had to be there at 8:00 morning till 5:00 p.m. You could say I only earned $5.00 sitting there all day. To top it off, they are going to mail me a check for the $12.00, thats even more stupid. So now instead of handing cash right there to us, now they have to get an evenlope, print a check, pay for postage to send it out to us. More money wasted by the tax payers.

For the 30 people they called into each court room for jury duty only 10-12 were picked to become jurors. So I sat there all day to listen to the same questions over and over and NEVER got called to the jurors box. I felt like I was in jail as a juror, you couldnt leave the room unless you were called to the court room. Then you were lead in a single file line to the court room by a sheriff. You were allowed a few breaks and had to report back at a certain time. You could not leave until the end of the day when you were dismissed or you would be fined and jailed. I should have a right to choose wether I want to do jury duty or not. This traffic case should of never made it to a court room like this with jurors honestly.

Yes some innocent people do slip through the cracks, but you got to ask yourself do you really know how innocent that person is? Besides a person can be innocent and the jury will still find that person guilty. I think the whole justice system has alot of cracks in it anyways. We have alot of crooked cops and judges etc out there. The people on the jury, how do you know some of them arent crooked? It could be they happen to give the right answer to the lawyer when asked.

Re: Jury Duty
 

How many times in your life are you going to have to do this? Not many and it is an important and vital thing in the fabric of our legal system.

Re: Jury Duty
 

True, I might not have to do it again in my life time. I certainly hope not. ;)

Re: Jury Duty
 

WWN6D?

Re: Jury Duty
 

I'm just irritated that my time is worth a apltry $1.50/ hour.

Like "Oh, you're fulfilling your civic duty - so we don't even have to pay you minimum wage to be here!"

LAME

Re: Jury Duty
 

Screw that buck fifty/ hour crap !!!!:hmm:
Come join the 5.99 a minute crowd...
...Always promising to be lucrative and high with retention level too :whistling

Re: Jury Duty
 

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"

JFK

Re: Jury Duty
 

JFK's ashes ain't payin' for my big balla lifestyle ;)


(and clearly, I meant "paltry" up there)

Re: Jury Duty
 

It's interesting how suddenly everyone is fiscal conservatives when it comes to jury duty.

Here's an interesting fact for everyone who makes the cost argument. In Florida (where I'm from), and I'm sure most other states are pretty close, The Judiciary, while as a branch of the government, in essence one third of the government, receives less than %1 of budgeted state monies.

So if you are really concerned about the cost, I suggest you look at the folks on welfare, or all the pork that goes to home districts rather than the system that insures rapists go to jail, or that you have redress when some drunk runs you over and you lose your legs.

Re: Jury Duty
 

Oh, I'm pretty fiscally conservative on everything not just jury duty.

I would love to see government scaled back to the way the forefathers intended. Small federal government, the power residing with the states. It should also not be the job of the government to take care of me, raise my kids or provide me with a job.

I can also pretty well guarantee you I'll never be selected to sit on a jury. No lawyer in their right mind would touch me with a 10 foot pole. I'm opinionated, hard headed, unpredictable and capable of influencing others in a group setting. I also have some natural degree of prejudice because I believe most stereotypes are stereotypes because they are largely true. And worst of all, I'm pissed off to be there.

Re: Jury Duty
 

State power won't work...ever.
Go to any Local Borough Council meeting, and you'll understand why.
I attend the local town meetings, and provide them on a community website: http://www.wrightsvillepa.com

Watch any of them...they're good for a giggle, and a perfect example why we need some kind of umbrella govt......but not a nanny state.

Easy way to avoid jury duty...all you got to do is this: Ask them to explain how "jury nullification" works?

Re: Jury Duty
 

Easy way to avoid jury duty...all you got to do is this: Ask them to explain how "jury nullification" works?

Good to know!!

Re: Jury Duty
 

It's entirely possible I have been misunderstanding, but the commentary as I've interpreted it has been primarily concerned with inefficiencies in the system and for its purposes, its lack of effectiveness as a result.

None of which indicates fiscal conservatism so much as a concern about the misuse of exisiting resources.

Re: Jury Duty
 

I'll probably get blasted for this, but whatever.

Fuck jury duty. Every time I've been called in, I try to claim hardship. When that doesn't work I'll act prejudicial... whatever it takes to get out of it. The ridiculous pay and wasted day is bad enough... but let's face it... lawyers are looking for the dumbest and most easily swayed people possible. People who have no time or patience to serve on juries by and large don't fit into that category.

When I was in college I participated in focus groups that dealt with being on a mock jury, mock trial, jury selection, etc. Boy you really get a look into how stupid humanity is when you are put with a random group of people like that.

I think in Australia they pay $50 or even $100 day for this... more of an incentive.

Re: Jury Duty
 

I thought misuse of existing resources is pretty close to the heart of fiscal conservatism.

Re: Jury Duty
 

I always understood fiscal conservatism to be primarily about limiting pork barrel spending, as opposed to poor execution of something vital to our economy. Now, cutting away at the bloated carcass of bureaucracy is good old fashioned conservatism, and I haven't got a problem with that either.

I think jury duty is a good idea - I think the management of it is piss poor, and as such is due for an overhaul. Not least among its problems is the fact that the people you want to be on a jury - people that want to be there and have a vested interest in justice - shouldn't resent the fact they are missing a day's wages and are being treated as though they have fucked up.

Spending money on things that make sense and having them executed efficiently and well doesn't make someone a bad person or mean that they are opposed to all social programs (which, generally speaking, are the hallmarks of those claiming fiscal conservatism). It simply means they have a solid and reasonable interest in how their tax money is spent.

Re: Jury Duty
 

Well, I won't blast you. I'll just say: Look, it's your duty as a citizen. It's the downside. And really, is it that big of a price to pay?
couple days, in most cases. Moneywise, here in pay, on the 3rd day, you start getting paid about $50/day.
If you want to look at this in the abstract, it's better than letting some group of "old white men" decide your fate when you commit a crime.

I'd rather take my chances with the guy on the street for a porn prosecution, than I would with some group of politicians, or judges, running for re-election.