It finally arrived last month, my jury duty summons, UGH! Weird how things work somethings, as I was recently thinking about jury duty and feeling lucky to have not been summonsed in a while, DOH!
I don't recall for sure but believe it was early 2000 the last time I was called, and I hated it then too.
Frustratingly, the process is pretty much the same. The court system and those associated with it tout about "your civic obligation", which is even seen stamped on the summons envelope below. Sorry but to me when something is freely and often touted about how great and wonderful it is, and what an honor it is, blah blah blah, it looses it's meaning and shine. It's more of a huge inconvenience, that is disruptive to your regular day to day schedule.
Truth be told, I have NO desire to serve and do NOT want to even be bothered with jury duty!
For such an honor, as it's touted, the court system here treat you like cattle. Hurriedly rushing you through security to get you checked in, to only sit and wait in an over crowed room. Yup, we had over 120 jurors summoned last Tuesday when I went. Apparently, there were numerous cases on the docket. Frustratingly, the room we were all kept in did NOT have enough chairs for everyone. Some folks had to either stand or sit on the floor - your civic duty, HA!
Here are my top 3 issues -
Issue # 1 - No Chance Of Covid When Fulfilling "Civic Obligation" -
Now lets talk about post-covid times. I can't get into a hospital, my doctors office, my dentist office without needing to pre-screen for covid and when I arrive I must put on a provided mask and use hand sanitizer. The waiting areas have plexiglass dividers between chairs. Checking in there's plexiglass between you and the person checking you in. All good best practices, agreed!? NOT the court system though! We were all sitting shoulder to shoulder with not a divider or separator to be seen and all in an overcrowded room. Apparently covid doesn't strike those that are fulfilling your civic obligation so no worries there, no sir!
Issue # 2 - NO Wi-Fi
It was made perfectly clear there was NO wi-fi provided by the court system! So, sitting inside a 100+ year old concrete building most had no Internet connection unless you were lucky enough to be near a window and even then it was spotty. You would think with how disruptive jury duty is to most, and with how technology has improved over the years, that the court system would have dedicated wi-fi available to those fulfilling their "civic obligation", no sir!
Issue # 3 - Hurry Up And Wait!
Sitting and waiting, that's what jury duty is about. Rush everyone there first thing in the mornings...to sit and wait. Rush everyone to return promptly from lunch...to sit and wait. There was one case that was delayed due to one of the participants "running late", hmm, so inconvenience over 100 jurors for one person, shameful...to sit and wait.
Finally got called into a court room for potential selection on a first degree murder trial, that was anticipated to run 3-4 weeks...to sit and wait. The judge spoke to us all for close to an hour, providing an overview of the case, then asking questions about the case and whether we could all be fair and impartial. Those of us who raised our juror cards (kinda like placing a bid at an auction), had our number read aloud for judge to jot down. After this process was completed and we all filled out the case survey form, the judge was to meet with each person, who raised their card, individually...to sit and wait.
At 3:30 the remaining 8 of us jurors we fortunately dismissed without even needing to talk to the judge, YIPEE! A very long day of siting and waiting and all to fulfill my civic duty. Good news is I've met my civic obligation and safe from being summonsed again for the next 3-years.
**UPDATE: By the way, here is the case I was being considered for! This is a Patriot Ledger article that was published online on 3/22/2023. Looks like the trial lasted 2-weeks and went to juror deliberations this afternoon, Wednesday -
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