Jury Duty?

[Ian Moone]

One of the young relatives got called for Jury Duty recently. Attended on the day but wasn't selected.
Got to thinking!
I am 56 years old and NEVER been called for jury duty (ever).
What are the odds?
Anyone know HOW they decide who gets called up for Jury Duty?
Is there some kind of ballot on your social security number?
The electoral role maybe?
What rules you OUT of being called up for Jury Duty?
Criminal record? (I don't have one, maybe that's the issue, maybe I need to go get me one?)
Just figured that one day I would get the call - but it never came.
What am I doing right (or wrong) as the case may be?
Just curious really!
Figure someone must know how the system actually works?.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Not sure of the specifics as to how it works in that part of the world. Here the clerk for each county maintains a list of eligible jurors (over 18, resident of the state for one year, and of the county six months, no conviction of a felony or treason, not excused due to age or infirmity).

As jurors are needed, they are then randomly selected. In some less populated areas they literally put each name on a piece of paper, put them in a box together and pick them out one at a time. In more urban areas the names are kept in a database and randomly selected using a computer algorithim. It is intended to be random, so in theory your name could simply never come up. There is also human error in the system, so if nobody updated the list with your name, you would not be selected.

[Kent Adams]

Ian, you live in Australia, so I doubt many here will know the rules for that. In my local area in the US, property records are often used to find potential jurors, which may be the same in Australia.

[Jim Koepke]

It is even different in the various parts of the U.S. Some places use voting registrations. That used to be the case in California. Then they included people with driving licenses.

If you live in an area with a low crime rate, they won't need as many jurors.

I was called multiple times in California. Sat on the panel twice but was eliminated before the trial. Rolling my eyes when the defense attorney asked what I thought was a very dumb question was the likely cause of him asking me to be dismissed.

jtk

[Lee Schierer]

Anyone know HOW they decide who gets called up for Jury Duty?

Here you go:

Western Australia Jury selection

[Mel Fulks]

"Kangaroo court" ....starting to make some sense now

[Scott Donley]

Here in Washington.First, your name was selected at random from voter registration and driver's license and "identicard" records. Then, your answers to the juror questionnaire were evaluated to make sure you were eligible for jury service. You were chosen because you are eligible and able to serve. You are now part of the "jury pool" — a group of citizens from which trial juries are chosen.
I once was selected for a death penalty case, lasted 6 months and was not allowed to return to work during that time, I was lucky as my employer paid me for jury duty.

[John K Jordan]

I'm almost 66, live in USA, vote regularly, and have never been called.
Makes me feel a bit unwanted.

JKJ

[Roger Feeley]

In Kansas it's the census. From there, it's pure chance.

I used to know a guy that wrote the selection software for a local county. It seems that a census worker knocked on the door of a trailer house and go no answer. So, being lazy, he just wrote down the names on a sign that said, "Home of John, Mary and Joey Smith" and he made up the rest. So Joey Smith got summoned and it turned out that Joey was a dog. Local news had some fun. Then, a year later, Joe got another summons. They couldn't remove Joey from the census so my friend had to put some custom code into the selection system that would reject Joey Smith at a certain address.

[Tom Stenzel]

Here in Wayne County Michigan they use the driver's license records. Once you hit 70 you can be excused because of age if you choose. I've been called to the criminal court 5 times and sat on one case. I was called to civil court once but not seated.

My one case was a murder trial. The judge said it would be pretty straightforward and would last about 5 or 6 days. Three weeks later we broke for Christmas with no end in sight. We ended up hanging the miscreant, finding him guilty of 2nd degree murder. Afterwards a detective talked to me about it, said that with his previous record the defendant wasn't getting out anytime soon. Here the jury is released before sentencing so we didn't get to see that part of the trial.

Interestingly, the defendant's attorney was the one that discovered the Detroit Police Lab had faked evidence in another case. The lab ended up being closed down with the State police taking over. BTW, he lost that case too. He wasn't a bad attorney, he was really good. He just took on some really hopeless cases.

Most humorous part: One of the jurors didn't make it back after lunch, the judge was fuming and sent a bailiff to find her. The bailiff came back and said that one of the building elevators had broken down and it was likely she was trapped on it. Turned out that was true. The judge set it up so when she walked in we all stood and applauded :-)

Once about 25 years ago I really didn't want to get on the jury. I looked at the defendant, scowled and narrowed my eyes, making sure my body language wasn't nice. The lawyer had me bounced out in an instant. The other three times I was called my name wasn't drawn from the hat to be seated for a trial.

Want to get out of jury duty? These are ones I heard in court:

"If he wasn't guilty the police wouldn't have arrested him!"

"Why would they have a stupid law like that?"

"No, the police would never lie!"

"Yes, the police will always lie!"

"He (the defendant) looks like a criminal."

Once a judge gave a potential juror the boot because he said his occupation was "server" as in restaurant worker. The judge asked if he was a Wayne state student? Um, yes, and aren't finals coming up? The judge sent the student packing.

The prosecution and defense attorneys can toss any number of jurors off for cause and a limited number (six comes to mind but might be wrong) without cause.

I just got a jury summons a month ago. With the amputation I had I can't sit for more than 3 or 4 hours. My doctor wrote a note and I was excused. I wouldn't mind being on a jury again. Just remember to have books to read, crossword puzzles to do, something to stave off boredom. There's a lot of time spent just sitting and waiting.

-Tom

[Ian Moone]

Here you go:

Western Australia Jury selection

Thanks Lee - very informative reading.

It appears most of my life I lived outside of the predominantly urban areas where the courts hold trials - and draw their juror pools from!.

Lets hope they don't work out, that I moved to the city!

6 Months impaneled in a jury? Yikes! Careful for what one wishes for I guess! Sounds like the jurors got locked up for probably longer than the criminal!

[Dave Anderson NH]

I was called for Grand jury about 25 years ago just 2 weeks after starting a new job. I was fortunately excused since we would have been empaneled for 90 days and my new employer would not have been too happy.

My Dad has been called half a dozen times but always gets bounced by the judge as soon as they get to the part about education. As soon as he says "Law degree" he's out the door.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Here in the USA, it varies from state to state and in Idaho, where I live, county by county on the selection process. Here it is random selection based on drivers license and voter registration.

I have one neighbor who is has been a resident for over 60 years, retired as a locally school teacher and has never been selected. His wife is a life long resident of Idaho, also a retired school teacher and gets selected regularly. My wife and I get selected regularly. It's literally the luck of the draw.

I have been selected several times and as of yet, have never had to serve. Twice, I was interviewed and didn't get selected.

One other time, the list of potential jurors was stolen by a client of and from a defense lawyer. All of us received letters in the mail condemning the law and requesting that if selected to serve we would find the defendant not guilty because the law was unfair. The entire jury pool was dismissed, the defendant and his lawyer had to face some interesting situations in front of the court after that.

[David Helm]

Had a driver's license since 16, registered to vote from the moment of legal age, got my first jury call at age 70.

[Stewie Simpson]

"Kangaroo court" ....starting to make some sense now

What a silly comment to make!!!!

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/