The conversation came up during one of the various social get-togethers here in Faerie regarding jury duty.
I am more than a little dismayed as to the general sense from nearly everyone (with a few exceptions) that it is a Thing to be Avoided — that to avoid jury duty warrents lies, evasions, failures to respond, notes from one’s mother, intentional disqualifications during voir dire, etc.
To each of those persons who feels their job, or life, is too important to be interrupted by sitting on a jury for a few days, or even a week or two, I would ask: who do you want sitting on your jury at such time as you find yourself hauled into court, or when (God forbid) someone who commits a crime against you is hauled in? Folks who have no job? Folks weren’t smart enough to make an excuse to get out of it? Folks who have nothing else to do? If you’re a busy professional, wouldn’t you like some of the “jury of your peers” to also be busy professionals, who might therefore understand your life, your motivations, even, dare I say it, your values?
If the project you are on, the work you are doing, is so critical, so absolutely bloody hinged on your being involved every single day, so that no delay, no absence, is possible — then you (or your manager) are doing a crappy job, because you are no planning for contingencies. What if you get hit by a bus? What if you get ill? If everything absolutely depends on your presence, you’ve got bigger troubles brewing than jury duty.
Are there never justifications for getting out of jury duty? Certainly not. There are times when there are personal hardships that would make serving extremely difficult and disruptive. I’m more concerned that the default response from an overwhelming majority of people I know is to find ways to get out of it. To make excuses. To avoid the silly inconvenience.
I do think the state has the responsibility to make jury duty more attractive or less onerous. Payment needs to be appropriate. Child care facilities should be provided. Terms of duty should be, to the extent possible, better defined. It should be made as convenient as possible. But, y’know, even if they don’t …
… bottom line, people, jury duty is a duty. It’s a civic responsibility. In a very real way, it’s the same as military reservists being called up to active duty. It’s the price we all have to be ready to pay as members of a society and government for the privilege of a jury system. Starting from a position of trying to duck it is wrong. It’s rude. It’s anti-social.
It’s even, I will say, evil. Because it is putting personal convenience ahead of the commonwealth. Because it is letting others take on a burden that you are most likely able to shoulder yourself, really. Because it is drawing benefit without contribution. Because it contributes to a cynicism and a me-first attitude and a general erosion of concepts like duty, responsibility, and truth.
People don’t bother to vote out of the mistaken sense that one vote can’t change anything. Well, guess what — one vote on a jury can change people’s lives dramatically. And if you’re not there to cast that vote, somebody else will have to. And you might not like how they cast it, and it might mean an innocent goes to prison, or a criminal escapes justice.
And you might be the next one in the dock.