jury duty

[Cats]

Wow, you guys have it rough with Jury Duty. We can get ours delayed no problem (only once per summon though), and I don't even think you need to tell them why (and if they do, they don't require the proof). Plus missing work is no problem because your employer MUST pay you for the time you missed due to Jury Duty. Although, since it tends to be one day, one trial here, and you don't get paid until the 3rd day, I can sort of see why.

I'm shocked I haven't been summoned yet again, since I have been able to since the year began. They loved me at first; I got summoned in college, got it delayed to summer. Ended up not having to show, which means I get put back in the pool. In about a year, I did get summoned again and had to show, but they didn't need anyone after all (which counts as served and you're off the hook for 3 years). About a year after THAT, I get summoned for Federal, which a recent state summoning does NOT exempt you from. I did have to serve 4 days on that one, and you do get paid for it (it was like $50 a day PLUS mileage), plus the usual your employer has to pay.


I don't get why people try so hard to get out of Jury Duty (and I'm not talking about people who have a legit reason). Is it inconvenient? Sure. But I do agree it is our civic duty, and it's not all THAT bad. It's a unique experience, and while I am in no way rushing to do it again, I wouldn't mind. My Federal summons ended up putting a man in jail, and that's a hard thing to have to come to terms with, even if you know you did the right thing. Doing a state trial (which I haven't done) would be a cakewalk compared to that. Maybe the way the system is set up in my state makes it easier for me to say that, but still, it's not like Jury Duty summons come very often.

[blas87]

Civic duty can suck my big fat buttcheek. I have rent to pay, a car to keep gas in, and I need to eat.

Dumbasses and their DUIs, assault and batteries, or dysfunctional families suing one another over Judge Judy type shit don't mean anything to me, and I really don't have time for them.

I did my "duty". I showed up and let everyone know I am not a fair person. And I got $14 for it.

[protege]

I did my "duty". I showed up and let everyone know I am not a fair person. And I got $14 for it.

Yep, the $15 per day I was paid didn't cover the gas used driving downtown (in rush hour, no less), parking on the South Side, and taking the T (subway) across the river. Nor did it cover lunch. First day, I missed an entire day's pay so I could sit around in a non-air conditioned room, for some overpaid court clerk to call my name. That didn't happen until 5:00, at which time I'd already read both of my issues of Classic & Sports Car. When I was finally picked, it was time to head home. It sucked, because I then had to report again for the trial the next day. A trial, that was settled even before we walked into the fucking courtroom! Again, I missed another day's pay, and the "generous" $30 I was paid didn't even begin to cover it.

What gets me, are all the comments about how it's a "civic duty." Sorry, but a "civic duty" doesn't put food on the table, make the monthly mortgage payment, the car payment, etc. If you want my time, you're going to have to compensate me accordingly. $30 isn't going to cut it.

[blas87]

I ended up really lucky, because I only had to show up for 1 trial. But as I explained before, it's a two week sentence when you have jury duty, you have to log on (or call, I guess) every day AFTER 3 pm (when I'm asleep!) and find out if you have to show up the next day. So, practically no notice.

I gave my boss a copy of the two weeks I had to serve, and she was really cool about the whole thing, saying even though the company doesn't pay us for jury duty, if I had to end up serving and I didn't get any sleep that day, to just call in and use PTO and she'd excuse any absenses and she said I was excused from overtime as well.

I think the $14 was fair, but that was just mileage and $12 of it was for showing up. What burned my ass is that I wasn't being paid mileage for driving 15 miles from work to court, they only pay you from where you LIVE to the court house. Which is bullshit, but they weren't buying it.

I went there in jeans and a zip hoodie. I brought some lipgloss and freshened up my cover-up before I left, and used some of my mom's perfume, but I didn't put a lot of effort into my apperance.

It turned out to be some schmuck trying to avoid going to prison for a DUI offense (after the trial was over and CCAP updated, I found out it was not his first or second or even third!), so I'm glad I didn't get picked.

[MadMike]

I believe you can asked to be excused for financial hardship reasons.

You can ask, doesn't mean they'll accept it. My wife tried it, and they didn't accept it. Fortunately, she only went in the first day, and they didn't pick her. They did, however, pick this extremely pregnant woman. While they were waiting, my wife took pity on her and asked someone to bring her a chair so she could get off her feet. WTF was the point of that??? If she would go into labor in the middle of the trial, I'm guessing they'd have to replace her and start over. I could be wrong, but my point is that it was stupid and cruel to pick a woman who could go into labor at any time. My ex went into labor six weeks early, so you never know.

So far, I haven't been picked. I got a notice telling me I was "on call" for jury duty, but I never got a call. Fine by me. I wouldn't want to be there anyway. My opinions are all over the place, I have an extremely short attention span, and the pay is a fucking insult. The courthouse for my county is about a half an hour away. Ironically, the courthouse for the neighboring county would be a lot closer.

One of my friends got summoned once. She absentmindedly put the letter aside and forgot about it, and later received a nastygram about "shirking her civic duty" and theatening her with jail time, but did nothing other than pissing and moaning. When she got summoned the next time, she made sure to go in, but they excused her after they interviewed her, and she mentioned that she does not trust the police or the government. In fact, she says she hasn't been called since.

I don't trust the police or government either, so they probably wouldn't want me. They probably wouldn't want me on a drug case, because I think drug laws are bullshit -- it's none of the government's fucking business what you put into your own body. They wouldn't want me on a political corruption case, because I despise all politicians. Actually, that's one case I might actually want to be on. I'd love to nail some high-and-mighty politician's ass to the wall. But then, that's probably exactly why they wouldn't want me. And they probably wouldn't want me on a medical malpractice case, because most of my family is in the medical profession.

[fireheart17]

I believe the financial hardship excuse works here as well, but I'm not 100% sure. I have yet to be summoned, although if you're on the electoral roll in your state you can be called for jury duty. (it's EXTREMELY rare though)

My criminology tutor did get summoned and got challenged (you only have 3 "challenges" in Australia, for jury duty selection) because he was a criminology professor at my uni and therefore would know all about the law!

[Cats]

I'm not aware for what juries are needed for in other states, but I'm seeing a lot of assumption here of the trials being criminal cases (based on people saying what kinf of trials they wouldn't be good to be put on). Here, that isn't the case most of the time. More often than not at least here, they're civil trials, where one person is suing another for some kind of BS on a small scale. Stuff like personal injury, car accidents, and property damage.

I see a lot of talk about the justice system in a lot of places and what's wrong with it. Jury Duty is your chance to be a part of it. Can it suck? Sure. But it's not something you need to do often either. For those of you who have been fortunate enough to have escaped being in a jury box as a juror (as even if you're in the courtroom, you might still manage to get out of it, as both sides are allowed to take people out to be replaced by others), it's NOTHING like what is shown on TV. That was my biggest fear about serving...I was afraid I wouldn't have the foggiest about what was going on and difficult terms being thrown around by lawyers and whatnot, and it wasn't anything like that at all (and this was at a federal criminal trial).

I'm just saying don't knock it until you've tried it. Do I think they should better compensate you? YES. Like I said before, here at least, your employer is required to pay you as if you worked while you are serving (and if you don't qualify or are self employed, I believe you can get off on finacial hardship). I just think Jury Duty is a small price to pay for all the other freedoms I get living here that other people DON'T get,

[guywithashovel]

I think Cats raises a good point.

I'll admit, I got a little irked when I got called for jury duty, but I did it. Yeah, it was time out of my life I could have spent doing other things, but it was just one day. Also, we often complain out criminals getting off, innocent people getting convicted, and other quirks in the justice system. Jury duty can be your chance to be a part of the system and possibly make something right. Okay, maybe that's a little too idealistic, but it can be a point of view to take. But of course, if it would cause financial hardship, then that's a good reason to get excused.

[blas87]

I still think it's a waste of time.

The biggest waste of time is the 30-45 minute video of how jury duty selection works and how a trial works. Didn't we all go to middle or high school and learn about this?

Also, for the record, someone needs the balls to tell a judge that "Voir dire" does NOT mean "to speak the truth" in French. Not at all.

[linguist]

Voir dire doesn't mean "to tell the truth" if you're using modern french as a baseline, however the phrase in legal usage comes from old french, where it means "to say what is true." Voire in old french derives from latin verum, which means that which is true, while voire in modern french derives from latin videre, which means to see.

[fireheart17]

Voir dire doesn't mean "to tell the truth" if you're using modern french as a baseline, however the phrase in legal usage comes from old french, where it means "to say what is true." Voire in old french derives from latin verum, which means that which is true, while voire in modern french derives from latin videre, which means to see.

I always translated it as "to say what you see". Which I guess is telling the truth in a way.

[linguist]

I always translated it as "to say what you see". Which I guess is telling the truth in a way.

and that is a more correct translation using modern french. however, the legal derivation of the phrase comes from old french, as the process is based on a similar process used in the anglo-norman legal system. as i said, "voire" has an entirely different latin derivation in old french than it does in modern french.