Why is it important for people to show up for jury duty (or reschedule their service) if they can reasonably do so?
I want to elaborate on the statement that I made on the home page. In theory, if no one ever showed up for jury duty, we would simply have to let homicidal manics and serial rapists go free (as well as lesser criminal offenders and “white collar” law-breakers) in accordance with their rights under US law. I acknowledge that such a scenario is a tremendous hypothetical, and I also acknowledge that the government would somehow find a way to deal with the situation. Having said that, it comes down a matter of principle. We need jurors for our system of justice to work as originally intended.
It is also important to note the significance of a trial by one's peers. The entire point of our justice system is to avoid or at least minimize corruption. The fairest judges of a case, at least in theory, are a jury of randomly selected “regular” people who don't know any of the involved parties, and who have been interviewed to ensure that are not harboring any biases before the case even gets started.
For the sake of simplicity, I don't want to get into the fact that 97% of all cases are not even handled by a jury, and I don't want to discuss other matters of judicial corruption. I will end this topic by just restating that the American justice system has always revolved around the concept of a trial by one's peers. We should also be reminded that we are very critical of nations that do not have such a concept, and we are even more critical of nations in which accused parties, at best, are given a token trial just “for show,” but are essentially in the hands of a single person or governing body that serves as the proverbial “judge, jury, and executioner.”
If you can reasonably do so, you should show up for jury duty when called, or reschedule your service. You should answer all questions honestly, and do the best job that you can. Having said that, it should be noted that this advice is somewhat of a contradiction relative to much of what I have written in this book. Let me be very clear on my position: Until our system of jury duty changes (and there is no guarantee that it ever well), it is important for people to honor their summonses if for no other reason than to ensure that dangerous criminals are not set free "by default." Having said that, I firmly believe that our entire system of jury duty (and trials by jury) needs to be rebuilt "from the ground up" when taking into account what America and American citizens have become in the year 2015.
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It is also important to note the significance of a trial by one's peers. The entire point of our justice system is to avoid or at least minimize corruption. The fairest judges of a case, at least in theory, are a jury of randomly selected “regular” people who don't know any of the involved parties, and who have been interviewed to ensure that are not harboring any biases before the case even gets started.
For the sake of simplicity, I don't want to get into the fact that 97% of all cases are not even handled by a jury, and I don't want to discuss other matters of judicial corruption. I will end this topic by just restating that the American justice system has always revolved around the concept of a trial by one's peers. We should also be reminded that we are very critical of nations that do not have such a concept, and we are even more critical of nations in which accused parties, at best, are given a token trial just “for show,” but are essentially in the hands of a single person or governing body that serves as the proverbial “judge, jury, and executioner.”
If you can reasonably do so, you should show up for jury duty when called, or reschedule your service. You should answer all questions honestly, and do the best job that you can. Having said that, it should be noted that this advice is somewhat of a contradiction relative to much of what I have written in this book. Let me be very clear on my position: Until our system of jury duty changes (and there is no guarantee that it ever well), it is important for people to honor their summonses if for no other reason than to ensure that dangerous criminals are not set free "by default." Having said that, I firmly believe that our entire system of jury duty (and trials by jury) needs to be rebuilt "from the ground up" when taking into account what America and American citizens have become in the year 2015.
Go to Next Topic
Go to Table to Contents