Jury duty is an incredible inconvenience to the working class and the self-employed. I actually had jury duty today, and one of the other potential jurors was complaining that he wasn't getting his parking comped because his work truck wouldn't fit in the lot, so he had to park elsewhere. I jokingly told him "At least the pittance they pay you for showing up is enough to cover the parking, right?" and he replied "Well, I had to pay $10 for breakfast, $20 for gas, and I lost $1000 because I couldn't work this morning, and I could have just not shown up and paid a $100 fine." He also said several other things that led me to believe he would probably make a good juror (if perhaps a bit too inclined to side with the state.)
But that's the problem with our current jury system; the working class can't/won't serve as jurors, much of the middle class is "smart" enough to get out of jury duty, so the only people you see in the jury pool are welfare class, some retirees, and politically-motivated individuals (usually not aligned with what we'd consider "good" politics, either.) I'm not sure if there's a way to mitigate the issues with jury service being a bad deal for the individual without causing other issues (maybe have jury pay be a straight tax credit at your hourly/daily rate? But that creates problems at the other end of the income bracket...)
Ultimately, jury duty is the only actual "civil service" left in our society, with the individual serving doing so to their own detriment, where just about every other form of "civil service" ultimately serves as a form of personal enrichment (or is at least a job with the backing of the state, and state benefits when the individual retires), and this causes resentment among the citizenry.
"Well, I had to pay $10 for breakfast, $20 for gas, and I lost $1000 because I couldn't work this morning, and I could have just not shown up and paid a $100 fine."
I don't understand this. I mean I absolutely get why the state would try and pay you nothing at all because they're fucking cheap and selfish and unethical, but what boggles my mind is that they think they can do that to you and then you will be impartial in any trial to which they are a party.
I'd be inclined to hang the jury just to take revenge on them for stealing my time. "Oh, you're going to fuck me out of a week's wages while I sit here? How about I just fucking destroy this trial and you can spend another $30K doing it all over again?"
Minetary damages are not a penalty to the state outside of city level. They take it all from you / us anyways, through taxing, or printing and inflation.
Jury Duty is like voting, where we really don't want people doing it that can't be bothered with even a little inconvenience. If you can't even spend 15 minutes ever four years to actually go to the polls then you shouldn't be voting.
Citizens absolutely should not be enriched by jury duty for this reason, because people doing it for the money will make poor verdicts as they don't care about the "duty" part.
The issue is that the compensation is so unfair. It should be 1/365 of your current year taxable income per day served, which you can estimate to get an immediate payout that's adjusted when you file. Employers should be prohibited from paying salary to prevent double-dipping.
This way is neutral with nobody punished or enriched, but at the same time enough of a tax hassle that the "mail in voter" types may choose to avoid it.
The issue is that the compensation is so unfair. It should be 1/365 of your current year taxable income per day served, which you can estimate to get an immediate payout that's adjusted when you file. Employers should be prohibited from paying salary to prevent double-dipping.
Either this or the employers should be required to pay their employee (including the hourlies) while on jury duty. I don't know which one is the better option, you'd have to figure out a way to keep the pay from being known to the attorneys in your suggestion as it could (in theory) be used as a way to save the government money, resulting in a worse jury pool. If I'm on jury duty, I'm getting my salary regardless, so I guess I don't really care, the compensation issue hits non-exempt and hourly employees way harder.
Our side also continuously loses court cases with "our guys" because people are too virtuous. "Oh I can't be on this jury I have a bias for this guy, he's on my side politically!", well guess what, all the leftists aren't going to announce that they hate this man and want him to rot to death in prison. You aren't going to let him and his family suffer because you want to be on the high road, are you?
Jury duty is an incredible inconvenience to the working class and the self-employed. I actually had jury duty today, and one of the other potential jurors was complaining that he wasn't getting his parking comped because his work truck wouldn't fit in the lot, so he had to park elsewhere. I jokingly told him "At least the pittance they pay you for showing up is enough to cover the parking, right?" and he replied "Well, I had to pay $10 for breakfast, $20 for gas, and I lost $1000 because I couldn't work this morning, and I could have just not shown up and paid a $100 fine." He also said several other things that led me to believe he would probably make a good juror (if perhaps a bit too inclined to side with the state.)
But that's the problem with our current jury system; the working class can't/won't serve as jurors, much of the middle class is "smart" enough to get out of jury duty, so the only people you see in the jury pool are welfare class, some retirees, and politically-motivated individuals (usually not aligned with what we'd consider "good" politics, either.) I'm not sure if there's a way to mitigate the issues with jury service being a bad deal for the individual without causing other issues (maybe have jury pay be a straight tax credit at your hourly/daily rate? But that creates problems at the other end of the income bracket...)
Ultimately, jury duty is the only actual "civil service" left in our society, with the individual serving doing so to their own detriment, where just about every other form of "civil service" ultimately serves as a form of personal enrichment (or is at least a job with the backing of the state, and state benefits when the individual retires), and this causes resentment among the citizenry.
I don't understand this. I mean I absolutely get why the state would try and pay you nothing at all because they're fucking cheap and selfish and unethical, but what boggles my mind is that they think they can do that to you and then you will be impartial in any trial to which they are a party.
I'd be inclined to hang the jury just to take revenge on them for stealing my time. "Oh, you're going to fuck me out of a week's wages while I sit here? How about I just fucking destroy this trial and you can spend another $30K doing it all over again?"
Minetary damages are not a penalty to the state outside of city level. They take it all from you / us anyways, through taxing, or printing and inflation.
The lawyer don't care. The judge don't care. They get paid anyways, and if it interferes with THEIR vacations, the case'll be put on hold.
Jury Duty is like voting, where we really don't want people doing it that can't be bothered with even a little inconvenience. If you can't even spend 15 minutes ever four years to actually go to the polls then you shouldn't be voting.
Citizens absolutely should not be enriched by jury duty for this reason, because people doing it for the money will make poor verdicts as they don't care about the "duty" part.
The issue is that the compensation is so unfair. It should be 1/365 of your current year taxable income per day served, which you can estimate to get an immediate payout that's adjusted when you file. Employers should be prohibited from paying salary to prevent double-dipping.
This way is neutral with nobody punished or enriched, but at the same time enough of a tax hassle that the "mail in voter" types may choose to avoid it.
Either this or the employers should be required to pay their employee (including the hourlies) while on jury duty. I don't know which one is the better option, you'd have to figure out a way to keep the pay from being known to the attorneys in your suggestion as it could (in theory) be used as a way to save the government money, resulting in a worse jury pool. If I'm on jury duty, I'm getting my salary regardless, so I guess I don't really care, the compensation issue hits non-exempt and hourly employees way harder.
Our side also continuously loses court cases with "our guys" because people are too virtuous. "Oh I can't be on this jury I have a bias for this guy, he's on my side politically!", well guess what, all the leftists aren't going to announce that they hate this man and want him to rot to death in prison. You aren't going to let him and his family suffer because you want to be on the high road, are you?
Took the words right out of my mouth.
/thread