The cost of jury duty

[~bs]

THAT WOULD SKEW THE POOL.. the outcome of a lot of trials will be affected by unemployed people .. that's fine if you think the unemployed pool is a diverse pool of individuals.. I would disagree

agreed.

Replace that with 20 hour community service (with the other 20 supposedly looking for jobs), and I would agree.

[disneysteve]

If you're a professional, and have a legitimate reason (such as being a doctor), they'll normally let you go.

Doctors are no longer excused automatically (hence me having to go). In fact, when I was speaking to the judge, he asked me if I thought all doctors should be let out. Of course, I said no. A doctor who works for a larger group or a hospital system probably gets paid while on jury duty and should be expected to serve. I wasn't trying to get out because I'm a doctor. I was trying to get out because I don't get paid if I'm out and I'm in a very small practice. I'm the only full time provider so if I'm out for 4 weeks or so, who is going to take care of the 100+ patients I usually see every week?

[~bs]

Doctors are no longer excused automatically (hence me having to go). In fact, when I was speaking to the judge, he asked me if I thought all doctors should be let out. Of course, I said no. A doctor who works for a larger group or a hospital system probably gets paid while on jury duty and should be expected to serve. I wasn't trying to get out because I'm a doctor. I was trying to get out because I don't get paid if I'm out and I'm in a very small practice. I'm the only full time provider so if I'm out for 4 weeks or so, who is going to take care of the 100+ patients I usually see every week?

Sorry, I wasn't specific, but I was thinking of the exact situation you mentioned.

Even if a dentist operating his own practice would experience hardship serving for 4 weeks. He'd lose 1 month worth of revenue while still incurring all of his fixed expenses.

I know tax people at CPA firms that got out of jury duty because it's not reasonable to expect them to serve during a month where they're normally pulling 60-80 hours a week with a deadline in april.

[VS_ozgirl]

I'm probably one of the few people in the world who would actually like to do jury duty! I did not realise that the cases could sometimes run for extended periods, although of course it's logical isn't it. I had a conversation with my boss about this - can't remember the exact reason - and he said "what, so you want to put someone in jail?" My response was "no, I want to play a part in ensuring justice is served". It would be so hard to negotiate with work though. I'd be happy to do it if I was retired.

[Fishindude77]

Sure it's an inconvenience, but it's kind of our civic duty as Americans to serve on a jury when called upon.

[disneysteve]

Sure it's an inconvenience, but it's kind of our civic duty as Americans to serve on a jury when called upon.

I agree, but there's a limit to what constitutes reasonable. As I said, getting seated on the jury would have cost me somewhere around $10,000. I'm all for doing my civic duty but I shouldn't have to literally spend thousands of dollars to do so.

[scfr]

I've gone in for jury duty 3 times but only actually served on 1 jury. It was really interesting to see the process up close and personal, it made for some good conversation after it was over, and I think it broadened my perspective a tiny bit.

[disneysteve]

I've gone in for jury duty 3 times but only actually served on 1 jury. It was really interesting to see the process up close and personal, it made for some good conversation after it was over, and I think it broadened my perspective a tiny bit.

I think I would really enjoy serving (depending on who else I was teamed with). I'm a very detail-oriented person, very much into process and policy types of things. Some day when I'm retired, I'd be happy to serve if called.

[frugal saver]

I'm always bewildered when I see the comments of "I've only been called 3 times" etc.

Over the course of my adult life I've been called for jury duty over 30 times. This includes the 5 years where they got my name wrong and were calling me once a year under each name.

Yet I worked with many people my age who'd never been called, or maybe only once.

My last straw was when I was asking a judge to be excused because I was taking my mother to chemotherapy twice a week. The judge said he'd put in a reschedule for 4 weeks and commented that she'd either be "done or dead by then." That's when I went and got my permanent excuse and no longer can be called.

I agree with doing my civic duty--but I think that means I'm doing it with everyone else--not just me while everyone rejoices that they've never had to go.

[disneysteve]

Over the course of my adult life I've been called for jury duty over 30 times.

Here you are only eligible every 3 years and then it's a random process for who actually gets called. So getting summoned over 30 times would take over 90 years.

That's when I went and got my permanent excuse and no longer can be called.

What did you have to do to get a permanent excuse?

[frugal saver]

Here you can be called every year, but while they were calling me twice a year I fought every time and lost. I was always assured that it was a lottery process but never believed it.

I have this thing going on (my mother and both aunts had the same thing) where I've been told I shouldn't sit for more than 15 minutes at a time. My regular job involved lots of frequent getting up and down so worked perfectly. After the last jury experience I went to my doctor and said--hey is it a good idea to sit for nearly 8 hours without moving during jury duty. Voila--doctor's excuse.

[scfr]

Here you can be called every year, but while they were calling me twice a year I fought every time and lost. I was always assured that it was a lottery process but never believed it.

I don't know what the process is for selection, but I have moved a lot which might mean that it takes awhile for me to get entered in to the system, and by the time they get me I've moved on?? I don't know. BTW, I do NOT recommend moving just to get out of jury duty.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

knock on wood, but I've never been called. I don't exactly know how or why but I never have gotten a letter. DH has but he wasn't a citizen for a long time so immediate mail back card and explain.

But me? Never. Of course writing this I will have to go in now. I'm 37 and I don't get how it's never happened.

[~bs]

knock on wood, but I've never been called. I don't exactly know how or why but I never have gotten a letter. DH has but he wasn't a citizen for a long time so immediate mail back card and explain.

But me? Never. Of course writing this I will have to go in now. I'm 37 and I don't get how it's never happened.

I think it has to do with the way your state/city maintains their list of eligible jurors. In general, govt isn't exactly known for efficient, meticulous operations and people do fall through the cracks. I think I'm also one of them.

Could be misfiled paperwork, could be because someone with my name has various felony convictions (true story), and the clerk wasn't checking good and threw my name out of the juror selection pool, etc.