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?"
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?"
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.