More People Should Get Jury Duty

[Kamaji]

More People Should Get Jury Duty

A trial by a jury of your peers is a foundational American right. To really reform the American justice system, we have to make the jury the star of the show.

APRIL 28, 2022
KEVIN FRAZIER

Your odds of serving on a jury are low. That’s a problem. Our collective distance from the criminal justice system has significant drawbacks. Thankfully, there are fixes to help revive the capacity of the jury system to keep prosecutors accountable, familiarize us with our communities and the laws that govern them, and ensure defendants have access to a trial by a jury of their peers.

It’s no secret that our criminal justice system is flawed. Decade after decade, there is a new theory of reform that sweeps the nation (or at least parts of it) and, yet, things never seem to improve for long. That is because everyday folks, through their role as jurors, have played a marginal role for far too long.

For several decades, reformers allocated most of the discretion in the system to judges. Under the indeterminate sentencing scheme, judges used their expertise to set sentences within a broad range based on the individual characteristics of the defendant. But it turns out judges weren’t as impartial as hoped, rehabilitation wasn’t as successful as envisioned, and, occasionally, parole boards were more lenient than anticipated. So reformers looked for a new actor in the criminal justice system to play the leading role: They found prosecutors; and they ditched indeterminate sentencing.

In recent years, prosecutors have become more and more influential in shaping our criminal justice system. In the switch to a determinate sentencing scheme, judges lost much of their ability to individually tailor sentences. Instead, prosecutors have become the primary decision makers; the charges they bring against a defendant are now the most important factor to how a case will move through the system. The severity and number of charges shaped everything from the odds of a defendant taking a plea deal (most do) to the time a defendant would serve if convicted at trial. Judges have very few means to oversee these decisions. So it’s on the public to make sure prosecutors keep the community’s interests in mind.

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Source:  https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/more-people-should-get-jury-duty/

[mountaineer]

The one and only time I was called to jury duty, I sat at the courthouse for a couple of hours with the other potential jurors, then we all were notified that the case was settled, so that was it. So disappointing!

[Polly Ticks]

My husband gets called every few years, but I think he's only been on one family court case regarding a competency hearing and mostly just ends up sitting around for a couple of weeks in the jury pool room. I've only been called once, but ended up on an attempted murder trial complete with video evidence. It was pretty horrifying.

[mountaineer]

My husband was called to serve on the grand jury in our little county and ended up being foreman. It was mostly small potatoes-type crimes, but still interesting.

Years ago, his sister - who then lived in NYC - served on the grand jury that indicted Bernard Goetz for the subway shooting.

Me - bupkes.

[Kamaji]

I've been called up several times, but have never served on an actual jury.  In NY, one frequently gets called as a so-called "standby juror" which only requires you to call in the night before to see if you need to report to the central jury pool each day for five days (in some counties it may be longer).  If you call and your summons number isn't listed, then you don't have to do anything for the next day (other than call in again the next evening).  If your number does get called, then you have to go to the central jury pool the next day.  Groups of jurors for voir dire are drawn from the central jury pool.  If you don't get called to voir dire on two consecutive days, then your jury duty is finished for that round, and you won't be called again for at least two years.

If you do get called to voir dire, then you might end up getting seated on a jury, if you're not disqualified.  If you get picked, then you serve on that jury until the case is done; if you get disqualified, you go back to the central jury pool and wait to see if you get called again.  If you don't, then after the second day, you're done for at least two years, as above.

There are very few exceptions to jury duty service now.  It used to be that a substantial number of people could automatically get excluded, like lawyers, but that's no longer the case.

[Wingnut]

My husband was called to serve on the grand jury in our little county

Me - bupkes.

Me too. I was selected for GJ duty.  It was for a term of 6 months. July thru dec 31st 2021.   It was kinda cool! The Judge was good explaining what are duties were to be.  The One case we thought we would be convened for never happened.  Funny thing was, most of the 17 of us all were from the same geographical area of the county.  I asked the DA why we were so special?  He laughed and never replied!.

[GtHawk]

I was never chosen to sit on a jury early in life and later with my bad back and hearing I couldn't stand to sit very long let alone hear everything, now I am excused because of my disabilities so no chance anymore. The problem for most people is that with the CS compensation they can't afford to get stuck on a trial unless like my BIL that works for Disney they paid him full wages when he was on a long trial where one twin tried to kill the other twin.

[Kamaji]

I was never chosen to sit on a jury early in life and later with my bad back and hearing I couldn't stand to sit very long let alone hear everything, now I am excused because of my disabilities so no chance anymore. The problem for most people is that with the CS compensation they can't afford to get stuck on a trial unless like my BIL that works for Disney they paid him full wages when he was on a long trial where one twin tried to kill the other twin.

That has always been a problem.  In NY, the daily "pay" for jury duty is $40.  For the NYC area, that's way too little for anyone who is subsisting on an hourly wage.

[Cyber Liberty]

I was never chosen to sit on a jury early in life and later with my bad back and hearing I couldn't stand to sit very long let alone hear everything, now I am excused because of my disabilities so no chance anymore. The problem for most people is that with the CS compensation they can't afford to get stuck on a trial unless like my BIL that works for Disney they paid him full wages when he was on a long trial where one twin tried to kill the other twin.

I worked for a large corporation, and they paid me for the Jury Duty.  "Company Policy."

I was called for Duty a few times, and actually was the Foreman in a trial back around 1990.  It was a sweet deal, the trials were afternoon only, and lasted 3 weeks.  Got paid for full time.

Next time I made it to the Courthouse was two months before I retired in 2018.  It would have been a minimum of 8 weeks and leaving work for that time, while tempting, was not something I wanted to do.  Fortunately, I flunked voir dire because my wife was a victim of the same violent crime the Defendant was accused of.  When they asked if I could still judge fairly, I said "No" because the guy who beat up Mrs. Liberty was LAPD, so I hate both cops and woman-beaters equally and will find against whomever I happen to be pissed at that day.

Walking papers within 5 minutes, along with the rape victims who also flunked.

[GtHawk]

That has always been a problem.  In NY, the daily "pay" for jury duty is $40.  For the NYC area, that's way too little for anyone who is subsisting on an hourly wage.

Try here in Kalifornicatyou.  California pays jurors $15 per day, in addition to $0.34 per mile for travel (one way).

[Kamaji]

Try here in Kalifornicatyou.  California pays jurors $15 per day, in addition to $0.34 per mile for travel (one way).

It was $15 a day in NY for a long time; the change to $40 wasn't that long ago.  Even so, I agree that it's too low.

[Gefn]

I was called this month but was excused. I was told I’d probably be called again in two years.

[berdie]

I wouldn't mind jury duty except for the fact that they seem to move too slowly. Something that should take 1 day takes 4. And that's the trial...not counting voir dire.

I have only sat on one jury..so that may not always be the case. The second summons, after I sat all day, settled so there was no trial.

Last time I just flat out told the judge that I couldn't sit for days on end (my back is really bad) on these hard benches. I wasn't excused...but I wasn't picked.

As soon as I turn 70...I won't have to worry about this any more.