Originally posted by smurfy2day
Well, I thank you all for your opinions, but I still will try my best to get out of it.
Thanks.
Hey Smurfy,
I hate the idea of jury duty, too. If you look at how it's done, people are REQUIRED to go or they are fined or jailed. That's involuntary servitude and Gerry, it's unconstitutional from that perspective.
However, I was able to get out of it several times because I worked nights. If you're a day sleeper, you don't have to serve.
Also, if your employer does not pay you when you go to jury duty, you may be able to claim financial hardship, depending on your situation.
I have gone to jury duty a couple of times recently because I no longer work nights. It's a good experience for someone who doesn't like the system.
You get to watch how the other people who have been called behave. What an amazing experience. How many of them are happy to serve their country that way?? Just about none.
And, you get to watch how the employees of the court system treat the jurors. They usually act like they are handling prisoners. Not a good way to treat folks who are serving their country, is it?
And, if you are called into the courtroom, you get to hear all the excuses people make to the judge for why they cannot serve, and get to see how compassionate the judges are. Some are, some aren't.
If you are selected as a juror, you get to hear the instructions to jurors, which is quite enlightening. Those instructions really made a good impression on me. Did you know that an accused person never has to say a word in his defense? If a person accuses someone of something, it is up to the accuser to prove his case, beyond a shadow of a doubt, or he fails to make the accusation stick. I would apply that to any situation, inside or outside of court. But, I don't talk to too many people, refuse to engage in gossip and hate arguing, so I never see accusations fly.
On the lighter side, if your employer pays for you to be at court, there are some neat opportunities to get to know lots of new faces - people from lots of different walks of life. And, you can get caught up on some reading or playing puzzles while you're waiting to be called. Nice to just lay back for a while.
Patty