Why Do I Have To Serve Jury Duty?
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One of the principal rights of all citizens of the United States is a right to a trial before a jury of one’s peers. Thus being a citizen of the United States means that at some point you may be called to serve jury duty. It is call “duty” because it is actually a responsibility of each citizen. Without citizens willing to fulfill the call to serve jury duty, we would all be unable to have access to the right of jury trials.
It may seem inconvenient, and frequently is, to serve jury duty. However, it is also a chance to actively participate in allowing other citizens the basic freedoms to which they are entitled. It helps to put the shoe on the other foot here and imagine what it might be like if you were charged with a crime, and no jury could be seated to deliberate your fate.
The jury is one of the checks and balances that is supposed to make trials fair. One makes an appeal not just to judges or to lawyers but to the “average Joe or average Jane.” In other words, the jury is supposed to be made up of people just like you, not judges or attorneys.
Thus when one receives a summons to serve jury duty, it is important to respond. Some employers generously pay for a person’s time when they need to serve jury duty. Others, like the self-employed, may find that to serve jury duty means financial hardship. Depending upon the judge and the laws of the state, there are a few reasons why one can be excused and not serve jury duty.
These reasons can include proving extreme financial hardship, having to care for a dependent that is disabled, or being mentally or physically incapacitated to the point where one could not reasonably deliberate on a jury. In many cases, although one gets a summons, one will never actually have to serve jury duty. This is because many cases are settled prior to even getting to court. Usually a potential juror, who waits for a day or two and has the case to which they are assigned settled, has fulfilled his or her obligation to serve jury duty.
As well, one is not required to serve jury duty more than once every 12 months. Thus if you receive a summons and have recently been on a jury, a call to the court can usually mean you don’t have to answer the summons. Many people fail to answer summons to serve jury duty, which is technically illegal. It is also a shame, since it is the responsibility in a democracy for all to uphold the principals that give us our basic rights.
Thus, ultimately, if one must serve jury duty, consider it not only a duty, but also a privilege of citizenship. We are often used to thinking of citizenship in a passive way. To serve jury duty is to actively be a citizen. Though it may be troublesome to have a week or two taken from you, how much more troublesome would it be to have a court system that did not give the individual basic rights and privileges?
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5
anon21846, please quote me exactly from the Constitution to support the premise that I have a positive duty as an American citizen to serve on juries, or that somehow my rights as an American citizen require this sacrifice. I'd be very interested to read that. If you can find such text in the Constitution, then I'd agree that government is empowered to summon us; otherwise gov't's forcing of us to the jury house is no more than the right of might, arrogated to itself by itself.I would not want someone like myself on a jury, which is all the more reason to make participation in jury selection voluntary. And I notice that you do not at all address the very serious issue of tyrannical government. It is tyranny for my government to compel me under threat of a gun--ie, fine and imprisonment--when I have broken no laws. That is by far the worse of the evils here, certainly worse than an under-juried docket. - Vandervecken
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Would you want people who were angry about jury duty to serve on a trial in which you stood wrongly accused? How would the attitude of potential jurors planning to hang a jury help you? Sometimes basic rights of citizenship require sacrifice. You don't know that you will never be charged with a crime you didn't commit. Don't you want a jury of peers willing to help you if that's the case? It seems to me those who come with awful attitudes about the process would be most likely to not even listen during service.America sometimes means working for citizenship. - anon21846
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I disagree entirely with your premise. It's my opinion that I have a right to be let alone by my government, if I've broken no laws. I call being compelled to go from point A to point B by my government under thread of fine or imprisonment conspiracy to criminalize honest citizens, which is an aspect of tyranny. It's really amazing that people who will never once be scrutinized under the necessary wartime surveillance aspects of the Patriot Act behave as if their rights have been violated the law's mere passage will, at the same time, calmly, like sheep, accept this direct physical compulsion by their government as the status quo.If jury duty is a privilege, as you assert, then let my government request that I participate in it. In fact, that is the only way they will ever gain my actual participation on a jury. I will never do anything but serve pointless time in the jury pool as long as my government forces me to the courthouse. The irony here is that, if they ever did simply ask me, and not compel me, I would probably serve. But of course, this will never change, and so my answer in every voire dire will always be: "if you put me on a jury, then I will deliberately hang it." - Vandervecken
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Oh yeah it's a real privilege to have my time taken by our weak legal system and get not a single cent for my time. - anon12190
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once you report for your court summons for jury duty is there a law that says you have to serve or can you go once you report? - anon2405
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