Most of us dread getting a jury summons in the mail. Many of us have to miss work or school and sit in a courthouse for hours, and in some cases days, for measly compensation, which most of the time is far below minimum wage.
Despite what a lot of people think, not registering to vote won’t prevent you from getting summoned. Most jurisdictions now use drivers license records in addition to voter rolls to create potential jury pools. It’s just a matter of time until you get that notice in the mail, and unless you are going to school or have some sort of serious medical problem, your chances of getting excused are slim. Fortunately, there are a few tried-and-true ways to get out of it.
The easiest way to avoid jury duty is to simply chuck the jury summons in the garbage and don’t show up. This might be unsettling to many people who may worry about getting into trouble with the law. The truth is that in most major cities, the no-show rate for jurors is around 50%. If they aren’t going to bother showing up, why should you? Most jurisdictions don’t have the time or the resources to track down everyone who has skipped out on jury duty. Besides, no one can prove that you ever received the summons unless it was sent by certified mail.
If you can’t bear the idea of ignoring a government order to serve at its whim, there is another sure-fire way to get out of jury duty. During voir dire you will likely be asked if you believe that you are able to make a ruling based on the what the law says and the evidence presented. Simply state that you believe no such thing and that every jury has the right to render a verdict how they see fit despite what the law says. This concept is called jury nullification, and mentioning it is a guaranteed ticket home.
You see, judges and lawyers don’t like it when jurists know about jury nullification. The legal concept of jury nullification gives a jury more power than anyone in the courtroom, including the judge. It gives the jury the power to protect the accused against unjust laws and governmental tyranny. For example, a man is on trial for soliciting a prostitute. The evidence has been presented and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the man is guilty. If the jury were to choose a verdict based the law, they would declare the man guilty. But if the jury felt that the laws criminalizing prostitution were unjust, jury nullification allows them to render a verdict of not guilty despite what the law says.
Of course, you may not even get that far in the jury selection. If you happen to be a doctor, attorney, or someone who seems reasonably intelligent, you are likely to be dismissed. Trial lawyers tend to want morons on the jury. They like people who can be easily swayed. With all that said, do you really think someone on trial considers his or her peers to be twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty?
If they’re white they’re innocent if they’re niggers or muds they’re guilty.
You must be white trash because everytime I turn on the news it’s a story of some white folks getting busted for meth labs, dumping babies, raping babies (you damn sex freaks), killing your own family, ripping off your own employees (i.e., Enron, Worldcom, etc), shooting up kids in schools (Columbine), and killing thousands of our soldiers for no damn reason (Bush)!
Baddddd message! While no one likes to sit on a jury, I’d hate to (god forbid) be falsely accused and wind up without a logical, responsible and diverse jury of my ‘peers’. And your explanation of jury nullifcation is extremely misleading. Tsk tsk.
Some of us take the judicial system seriously. It’s constipated enough with appeals and mis-trials. That equates to a stressed system, flushing tax bucks, compromised representation, and most importantly, an inevitably failing system. People’s lives are at stake.
Perform your civil duty. It’s the only way to maintain a just process.
“Civic duty” is a warm and fuzzy phrase that represents anything the government forces you to do against your will. If “performing your civic duty” turns you on, then by all means don’t let me stop you. After all, what would Feudalism have been without serfs?
Yea, I want to do my “civic duty” at the expense of over $800 per day. No sir your honor, I hate jews, they own the banks. I hate blacks, they are all on welfare, I hate latins, they take all of the women. Being gay is evil…..
I intentionally used ‘civil’ duty because it’s the ‘civil’ized thing to do in the society we attempt to maintain– you may not especially appreciate the system as we know it, but it is, in fact, OUR system. The alternative is?
It’s one of those ‘you’re either part of the problem, or part of the solution’ kinda things, in my opinion. You don’t have to partake, getting out of it is easily doable. Feudalism, schmeudalism pffffft, feckless.
The “civil” thing to do would not be to force people into government service against their will and pay them a pittance.
Easy there, tiger. It’s not THAT life altering. I can think of far more severe sacrifices than jury duty.
Flawed thinking. Just wait (and based on the class of folks leaving comments here) until it’s your turn as a defendant.
I had the mind boggling experience of sitting on the Fulton County Grand jury for a year (that’s the term down here, once you pass that VD). And for all you white supremacist racists out there, the majority of the most heinous crimes seem to be perpetrated (and you get Caught!) by jerkwater whitey. The bloods are still rolling the streets being petty and trifling and a shame to their race with the Latins following close behind.
why does everyone assume jury duty involves blacks (or whites) in a crime? I was called for a boring as hell land dispute between two rich white guys. In questioning I said I had a Barack Obama bumper sticker on my car and was not picked. Thank GOd!!
1) If I were on trial, good luck finding a jury of my peers. Just because I live in a county, doesn’t mean my neighbors are my peers. Far from it.
2) What are the alternatives? Well a little country called the UK has professional jurors.
I’m one of the few that actually like jury duty. Yeah, I guess I’m a freak, but I couldn’t wait until I turned 18 and got my first summons. I’ve been summoned 4 times total in 2 different states and have served on 2 trials. One actually made it through the whole proccedings while the other took the plea before opening statements were even issued.
I would like to see changes made to the way compensation is given. Skip the $10 a day thing and the parking validation. Why not make it a tax deduction? If you are summoned and appear, get your little form and when you do your taxes you get a $100 dedeuction.
I recently was disqualified from a jury for taking prescribed Xanax. I was probably the most levelheaded one in the room!
I just got summoned again. A number of months ago I pleaded that it would cause undo financial and physical stress. They just delayed it, and now I have to deal with those morons again. What gives them the right to force people to do this?
Where in the constitution do they get the power to punish people who have not broke any law? They are subverting my personal freedoms, and I have not broken any law. It is a like jailing someone, without any proof that they have committed any crime, nor have I been accused of committing a crime, and yet…they feel they have the power to forcefully remove my freedom of will. It is a form of imprisonment.
I hate those bastards.
This is like the sixth time I’ve been summoned to jury duty. Why don’t they leave me the heck alone!!!!! I don’t believe in forcing people to do this. I pay my taxes and obey the lawas, I shouldn’t have to do this if I don’t want to. I know people who actually want to be on a jury and never get called. Why do the same people get called again and again. I hate it.
I understand how difficult it is to be forced to do something, freedom of choice is a great blessing. What if they start to force people to vote, then you understand what the subject is about. They did this because too few people accepted and too many refused when given a choice. People can be like that, how many important things do you get help with, depends on a person willing to help, people need and expect jobs, money, friends, and marriage, to name a few, which sometime created the crime from wanting it. This is what Tim wrote about the subject: “It’s purely an example of taking advantage of people who aren’t familiar with the law. In our area (Pasco County, FL), anybody who’s actually participated in jury duty knows that missing it simply results in the courthouse issuing another summons for duty. If you miss the second one, a third is issued in person by a deputy or other officer of the court. You only get into hot water if you get that third strike. All of this is actually explained to you when you appear during a short orientation session. I’ve had the pleasure of attending these sessions twice in the past few years.”
“Of course, those who haven’t ever been summoned for jury duty most likely don’t know those little details. It’s betting on the same odds that scam emails bet on. They figure if they try it 100 times and succeed once, then it was worth it.”
“Posted by: Tim at March 1, 2006 1:54 PM”
They should make this a job someone learns in school or someone can ask if they can do it, to do it the right way, will get something done, people have bills to pays, who pays the rent, the house payment, car payment, and other things, if you refuse jury duty who pays the bills, if being in jail or being fined an amount of money, who restores your credit rating not paying bills. Just more crime to create more people to serve on a jury, therefore not getting paid enough to serve on a jury. People need jobs this would open up jobs for people, there would be less people to need because they move from one trail to another, I am sure people could do this a lot better if they learned how to do this and be in good condition, be alert, to concentrate on the subject, some peoples lives depend on the right or fair judgement. To force people to do this creates problems, not everyone can afford to go to a doctor to explain this problem, to not do jury duty, some doctors will not write down a reason why they can not do jury duty, when they should write down something, look at the cost of visiting a doctor too, waste of money when they can not see the problem they would create, they make doctor think its next to impossible to excuse someone, how alert is a person with a medical problems, not much, or the medicine, some feel they could still do it, depends on the persons ability, why should these people suffer to be there or how can justice be served by people that get embarrassed by this, or not alert to the problems it would cause, allergies are an example, or what if they had some other problem that is contagious and the doctor did not think it was a problem, because to force to do this creates problems. With so many crimes and court cases, or other court cases, there is a big demand for more people to serve on a jury, therefore they think force is the only solution. If it was a job people get paid to do everday there would less people needed to do this, its possible there would be a big crowd of people to get the job. what could happen when people are forced to do this, they could be arrested for a crime of lacking money, theft, which fuels the need for more people to serve on a jury. How can people think they get justice with people that can not do the job right, because they did not learn good values, or for some reason can not be alert to what is happening in a court room, they can not expect to have success to force some one to do this, it would create more crime, theft, stealing, or the possible wrong people sent to jail or excused from the crime, our its been said, parents and churches and schools could do more to solve crime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
Slavery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Read the above wikipedia article and the US Constitution, you will frnd that forced Jury Duty is unconstitutional and illegal. What next put you in jail for not vote for someone. What next chop off your hand for littering, paper, chewing gum, and etc.
“The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines forced labour as “all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”"
“The word slavery is often used as a pejorative to describe any activity one finds unpleasant or distasteful. On the one hand, this means the word slavery is applied in situations where it does not technically fit the definition. On the other hand, it also means that it is often not applied in situations that do fit the definition, but where the speaker feels that everyone has a duty to perform the action. Examples of the latter might include jury duty or military conscription, where a person is compelled to perform a job and is paid much less than one would have sought for a similar job in a free market.”
Could we also say that someone could be a slave when a man can not be practical and have values when a certain person expects a man to indulge a women when he desires to be single, to slander as being homosexual.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6546
Abolish Jury “Draft”
“Please find and read at the above location, this wise person wrote about the Jury Draft, is it just another excuse for slavery, he knows it is too.
Here some wise words he wrote:
The present jury selection system is unjust and inefficient. Compulsory jury duty violates the very principle of freedom at the heart of our constitutional republic. And imposing high implicit taxes on jurors—by paying them far less than the wages at which they would voluntarily offer their services—misallocates labor and imposes a net loss on society.
The Free State should be the first to end the jury “draft” and institute an all-volunteer jury, replacing the threat of coercion with the consent of the governed.
James A. Dorn is professor of economics at Towson University and editor of the Cato Journal.
More by James A. Dorn
Justice requires that government limit itself to its legitimate functions—to protect “life, liberty, and property.” In a free society, the greatest scope should be given to the private sector—to minimize the use of force. Those principles have served America well and have attracted millions of oppressed people to our shores. But they have not always been followed.
Two obvious transgressions were slavery, abolished in 1865 by the 13th Amendment, and the military draft, abolished by Congress in 1973. The third, not so obvious, violation of our civil rights is the existing jury-selection system. It is a form of “involuntary servitude,” although not comparable to slavery or the military draft. Compulsory jury duty cannot be justified by pointing to the right of trial by jury, just as the military draft could not be justified by the power of Congress “to raise and support Armies.” It is a legitimate function of government to provide for the “common defense,” but not to compel citizens to serve.”
I think this is only fair to write:
Remember, what being expected to do causes, the problems it causes, if your rich you could afford this or volunteer.
They force the poor people and others to do this, look at the costs and problems, if you try to visit a doctor to prove you have a problem, it costs money, come from surgery for example, your still healing, they still want you, your pregnant and soon to deliver, they still want you.
The Doctor told me no problem if you sneeze and blow your nose and run out of tissue, or cough, do you think they get a fair trial with that distraction, I understand tolerance from intolerance, some people can understand while that is happening, someone’s life is in the balance of right or wrong or truth from a lies, would I miss something. What about a dress code, and babysitters, and bills to pay, apartment eviction, why should it bother them, look how much there salary is, they want you to do it for almost nothing, money does not grow on trees, its illegal to steal money to afford doing this, look at the price of gasoline, a person must have money to afford this, it takes planning and being prepared, they could say they provide everything, would you like to be force eat and sleep the way they expect you, how could it not slavery, your poor or have problems, they have power to force you by misleading you to think that its not slavery, they are blind to the US Constution and make excuses for doing it.