Let me relate my experience last time I was called.
I began calling in daily and eventually got the word, arrived at the correct when and where, and waited in the hall. When they were done with their coffee, they checked us in and I proceeded to sit all day waiting to be called. In the last hour of the day my name was called and I went out to again stand in the hall waiting. Eventually we were taken into a courtroom and about 50 of us were arranged in the gallery. The selection process began. Because it was so late in the day they told us to come back the next day. My “one day” became two.
The next day we stood around waiting for the judge to finish the trial work in process. We serve at the convenience of the system and some judges don’t show much awareness that people’s lives are on hold. We were eventually seated again in the court room. They put 14 people in the jury box and proceeded to ask all 50 of us some generic questions. A few were dismissed at this point. Eventually the lawyers focused their attention on the people in the box. The questions got specific and sometimes personal. After each lawyer had a shot at the potential jurors they consulted with the judge, some were dismissed and the seats were filled again from the pool.
This routine continued until twelve jurors and two alternates were selected. I was the next one to go into the box when they declared themselves satisfied.
Once again I was not on a jury and in the process missed four days of work. Fortunately for me the school district I am on pays for five days of jury duty. I don’t know what I would have done if I had been forced to stay for the trial.
What are the lawyers looking for? Obviously someone who is not biased against their case or client. Even more they tend to be looking for people they can manipulate into seeing things their way. The first questions are designed to eliminate everyone who knows the law, the situation, or has a high respect for policemen. Originally the jury system chose people who knew the parties involved. It looked for the most informed. Now, we look for the least informed.
Like democracy, it is probably the worst system except for all the others.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.