Jury Duty??

[Farrar]

Also, some of the stories here are horrible - is it also uncommon to not be able to reschedule? Here, you can go online and reschedule your jury day - I think it has to be within 4 months or something like that - but it's very flexible within that.

[sbgrace]

I was in the jury pool and put information on there but still got called for jury duty. I reported but spoke to whomever was in charge of the jury and was excused/dismissed before they even started.

 

I do think it depends on the state and, very likely, the court involved. I was up again the next term but this time never actually called.

[Farrar]

We don't have that, but that's not a bad idea. Although I'm kinda surprised they offer that between the cost and potential liability. I would be ok with it because my kids are 10 and 7, but I'd have a tough time leaving a 3 year old with a complete stranger.

 

Oh me too. But I think the liability is no different from any government run preschool. I'm pretty sure they have papers you have to sign and forms to fill out. Dh works nights so I've never had to use it. If I get called again, I can totally leave my kids now that they're 7 yo. Plenty old enough to be "alone" all day with dh asleep upstairs.

[Farrar]

Of course now I'm feeling jinxed and worry about being called!

 

Yes, I think posting in this thread might be asking for trouble from the jury fates. Clearly we should stop. :tongue_smilie:

[kristi26]

There is no childcare available for jurors here. If there were, I'd probably try it and make my 12 and 9 year olds in charge of my little people. I suppose technically, I could leave my 12 year old in charge at home ALL DAY LONG but there is no way I'd do that. 8-4 or whatever it is? That's way too long for a 12 year old babysitter.

 

If I have to go, I'll just go and hope and pray that I can talk my way out of it once I'm there.

[Tree Frog]

Yesterday, I got a letter in the mail about jury duty. And the date? September 10th! We'll be in the midst of homeschooling! I don't have a substitute teacher to call. What am I supposed to do?

 

I called the office about it. The guy was rude. He made me cry with his rudeness. :( He said that "homeschooling isn't a reason not to serve on a jury" and that "not having anyone to watch your kids isn't a reason to not serve on a jury." Then he said, "Think of it this way, if your dr told you had to have surgery that day, what would you do then?"

 

I'm very tempted to bring them along to the court date and when they ask me what I was thinking responding with, "Well, I was asked what I would do with my kids if I had to have surgery and had no one to watch them. This is what I would do: bring them along and pray for a nice nurse to sit with them while I'm in surgery. Now, can direct me to the nice nurse, please?"

 

I understand that they need people on the jury and I get that. I would be more than willing to do it if I had the easy ability to get someone to watch my kids/teach my kids. But the fact is, unless my husband (or one of our relatives) takes off work (which means not being paid, which equals causing financial hardship to someone), I have no one to watch my kids while I sit around in a courthouse all day waiting to see if they even WANT me on a jury. And what's worse is that while I might be able to scrape up someone for that one day, what am I to do if they want me for a week? A month?

 

I sent a letter that said the following with my form:

 

"I received a jury duty notice in the mail today, July 18, 2012. I cannot serve on a jury at this point in time. It would cause undue hardship. I am a stay-at-home mother to four children. I am their caregiver during the day and there is no one else to watch them for any sort of prolonged period of time. I am respectfully asking that you excuse me from jury duty."

 

What do you think? Will it get me excused?

 

Are you by chance in FL? We moved here and I was called for jury duty within 3 months. I knew no one, my husband was active duty and couldn't take time off from training, and the woman I spoke with acted like I was lying when I explained my dilemma. I did tell her I'd have to bring the kids along for a field trip, which made her very angry. In the end, one of the women I'd met at co op agreed to take them for the day and it turned out fine. I was asked if I had any hardships or wouldn't be able to concentrate on the trial for any reason, so I could have left at that point. I chose to stay because the process was interesting and my kids were cared for.

[sunflowerlady]

I just went through this last month. Here in FL, you can be excused if you are non-employed parent or guardian of a child under 6. My dd is older than that.

 

I wrote on the form for excusal that I am the parent of a homeschool child. Well, a clerk called me a few days later and told me that the judge had not excused me.:glare: I asked if I was supposed to bring dd . She said I could not do so. No one under 18 was allowed.

 

I was very upset, but did make arrangements for dd for that one day. The good news was that I was only there from 8 am until 11 am.

[Tree Frog]

:grouphug:As I stated in the other thread, jury duty is one of my nightmares. I guess it all depends on where you live. In Texas that would be enough of a reason to be excused. I'm guessing it isn't that easy in your area or they wouldn't have given you a hard time on the phone. I went online, entered the ages of my children, and was excused.

 

I was also excused in NY. They asked if a 2 year deferral would be sufficient and since I knew we'd be moving within 2 years, it worked out well.

[mom2jjka]

I just got called this week too, and I'm in the same boat.

 

I was told to send a letter directly to the judge overseeing the courtroom that I was assigned to stating the reasons why I wish to be excused.

I said that, "the dates of my summons fall within our family's homeschool year, and as such I would need to hire a substitute teacher for my children."

I also mentioned that my husband is newly employed (following several months of unemployment) so that he does not yet have much vacation time, and to hire someone to watch the kids would be a financial strain for us.

 

 

 

 

[Stellalarella]

Yes, I understand they do here as well.

 

I'm trying to take breaths. I'm sick over the idea of having to do this. I'm not a risk taker. I don't try new things. I try to blend in. Going on jury duty is new, unknown, and in the city (which I avoid). Not excited.

 

And by the way, I know that my situation is not unique. I know that people get called to jury duty everyday and that it's inconvenient for everyone. It doesn't change how I feel about it.

 

I've been called more than once for jury duty. I also hate driving downtown into the city. I also have had little kids, being pregnant, and, of course, I do not have family to watch the kids for me. babysitting would cost me way more than jury duty.

 

My state would not excuse me from being called, but even though I had to go several times, I was not chosen to sit on a trial.

 

Painful and costly to me though it was, I have to acknowledge that jury duty is a fact of living in a democracy.

[ocelotmom]

Yes, I think posting in this thread might be asking for trouble from the jury fates. Clearly we should stop. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm just waiting for the mail. I got called three times 2 summers ago (several people in my nursing school class got called within 3 months of graduation, which makes you wonder a bit about the randomness). The first time, I postponed. The second time, we moved out of state before the day I was called. The third time (in the new location) I'd have a newborn at the time, and while I was willing to serve (They pay $40/day here, I was unemployed, and childcare wasn't an issue so it was actually a pretty good deal), I told them I'd have to pump for 20 minutes at least every 2-3 hours. They haven't tried to get me in since, but I figure they won't let me go too much longer now that DD2 is well past typical breastfeeding age.

[Stellalarella]

Yes, and we are free to complain about it. :D

 

I remember complaining a lot about having to go for jury duty. I felt very panicked.

 

From a historical perspective, I wonder if people argued against women's right to vote because of the hardship it places on young mothers to perform jury duty.

 

On the other hand, that little bit of cash was the only income I made that year. :tongue_smilie: Or in most of the years since...

[QuirkyKapers]

I was called a few years back. Arranging child care was a hassle. They didn't view that as an acceptable excuse. After all, you are making $10 a day. Whoopee. We lost money since dh had to stay home. :glare: Also, if you aren't chosen the first day, you still had to come back. If you made it 3 days without being chosen, you had done your duty. Of course, I was chosen on day 3 as an alternate. Bummer, you sit through the whole process and than if no one is sick, you don't even get to be part of the outcome or know what happened.

[Tap]

Yes, but a teacher can call in a substitute; as our laws sit now, I do not have that option. I have tons of available sitters, but none would be able to teach my school aged child, legally. Unless, of course, the state wants to pay for a certified teacher (the exception to our law) to come in and teach our child (I think the going rate for tutoring from a certified teacher here is around $40 an hour). Given, this is no big deal if we had a specific start/end date for the trial... say only a week, but as we know, there is no guarantee. A trial can go on for months. I cannot have my child take months, or even weekS, from school.

 

That is highly unlikely though. In those cases, it is known ahead of time and the fact that you teach your children would likely be taken into consideration if you requested to have your jury duty postponed.

 

Most Jury Duty obligations are a couple of days, 5 max.

 

 

Salaried employees don't always have someone to replace them at their job either. They do their Jury Duty and then go home at night and do their day job too, or just have to do double the work the next week.

 

If you have 5 days of Jury Duty, you can pick up 4 days of school by using the weekends, only missing one day of school. A home school parent can make it work, they just have to think creatively.

Edited July 19, 2012 by Tap, tap, tap

[stripe]

Do most courts no have child care? Here, you can bring any potty trained child with you and they are obligated to watch them however long you serve or are involved in a trial (the child care is for jury members and people in court).

 

Uh no. I was told not to bring anyone with me. Sounds like a brilliant idea, though.

 

I was called for a week before my due date and the clerk rescheduled me for a year later (the latest she could). Occupation is not an excuse, including childcare. I got my mom to coordinate her visit. Happily, I called in to check and was excused. A few months later I was called again! My previous recent service excused me. My husband was then called a few months later. He had to appear, but he, along with apparently everyone else who dressed professionally and/or had a college degree (they conferred in the parking lot), was sent home. The rest were snapped right up. :001_huh:

[hsbeth]

And I don't consider that a terrible argument. I'm pretty sure teachers get out of jury duty if called during the school year. I have never known a teacher in all my years at school who was away for jury duty.

 

Not in GA, my husband teaches public high school and was called 3 times this year for jury duty. We had just moved so the first notice arrived only a few days before his scheduled appearance (Wed for a Monday date). He called to request excuse due to teaching and was told he could not be excused. He made arrangements at work to get a sub and then got a phone call on Friday (late evening) that court had been cancelled. About 10 days later he got another notice for a new trial. He again called to be excused as he was getting close to some standardized tests dates that he was prepping students for and again was told he could not. Once again, they cancelled on him after he had made arrangements and sub. plans at the last minute.

 

The third notice was actually for graduation day at his school. He teaches mostly juniors and seniors. It's a small school and he often has his students for multiple years. He is close to them. Plus he needs to return to work the rest of that week to do grades, report cards, etc. He even explained that he reports to work the week after graduation to his college job so that he wouldn't be able to make up missed work at his high school if he was chosen to sit on a jury. STILL no excuse was given to him. He was livid to have to miss graduation and his principal was very frustrated at this point after having approved substitutes on three separate occasions.

 

I also felt badly for the subs. who had set aside their days and then been cancelled on. Dh did report to work on each of those cancellation dates.

 

If they will not excuse teachers, I honestly don't see why they would excuse home educators either. I understand that day time babysitters are hard to come by. I often barter for time with other home school mommas, church members, etc. I would not want my dh to take time out of work for my service either, but I would go if chosen unless I had a nursing babe.

[BoyOBoy]

In NY, being the primary caregiver of young children without immediate access to child care is an excuse. I was summoned and reported the ages of my children, and specified that one was breastfeeding. I was excused. I actually have family close by that theoretically can watch my children. However, none of my dc will take bottles when they are breastfeeding, so I am pretty restricted for at least that first year, until I can give them milk. For some reason, they are happy to drink that from a sippy cup.

[HSMom2One]

I've been called twice and excused both times because my kids will very young. Now I've moved to a different county, and I'm not so sure that will fly if I get called again. I seriously doubt I'd be chosen though since I have friends and family in law enforcement and I have a religious degree. One of those will take me out of the running for sure. :glare:

Try to think of it as a learning experience. You get to participate in the process, then you can tell your kids what it's all about.

 

I agree with others about how you will learn a LOT from this experience, as each case has its own unique details and personalities. Along with this, please consider something else. Your dc may be young now, but as a home educator you will someday be teaching them about the American justice system and you will honestly be able to tell them about how you, like others in the community who are called, have served and done your civic duty. You are being given an opportunity to be a really good role model for them.

 

It is never convenient to serve on jury duty, but it is part of being a responsible American citizen. You, or someone you love, would certainly want to rely on a fair and impartial jury if a situation was thrust upon you that involved the legal system. I understand about having young children and needing to find childcare, but I highly encourage you to try your best to make it work. If you can't serve now, then do try to make yourself available in the future if it comes up again.

 

I have served on jury duty a total of three times in my adult life. In fact, right now I am serving for the month of July in our county's district court system. Fortunately for me it comes at a time that I don't have school because it's summer, and my dd isn't in need of daycare. It's still very inconvenient though, and I'm not exactly enjoying it like I would enjoy other means of spending my time during the summer. But I have to say that even at its worst, I'm glad for the experience. Today we finished a fairly long criminal trial and I was a part of seeing that justice was served on behalf of two young women who were victims of heinous acts of crime that had left them completely damaged for life. I listened to hours and hours of testimony and the presentation of evidence describing what they had endured over a long period of time. Ugh. It was not pretty, but in the end we decided that there was enough evidence to hold the defendant accountable for his actions. I do not feel that we judged him at all. We evaluated what was presented in detail by professionals and at the conclusion, justice was served. Yes, I do feel sad and depressed over everything I had to learn about, but I cannot emphasize enough how much I learned about LIFE this week. And I can actually say that I am proud to know that I participated in the American justice system in this way and was able to contribute in a very important way to my community.

 

Voting in elections, paying taxes and serving on jury duty are all a part of being living in this great nation. If it is at all possible to work it out for childcare I encourage you to participate.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

Edited July 20, 2012 by HSMom2One

[HeidiKC]

If you bring your kids, they'll excuse you for the day and then put you back in the system to be called up within 3 months or something. I've had jury duty postponed twice before - once we were going to be on vacation, once I had a nursing baby. But "excused" for those things (or likely anything) is only temporary.

 

I do feel like we must take the opportunity to serve when called. The defendant deserves a jury of peers, and that might mean SAHMs, and maybe even homeschoolers! You never know what the case might be about. I know the babysitter issue is very difficult, but do you know another homeschooling family the kids could stay with? Also, most cities have babysitter services where you can hire someone through them. I have heard nothing but good reports about these. Or a homeschooling family with an available teen?

 

Any chance your husband could even take them to work? Set them up in a conference room to do schoolwork, then maybe let them watch a movie at some point? I can't remember how old your kids are, or if you mentioned that. And maybe he could come in late, leave early to shorten their time there? I know this probably is unlikely, but thought I'd mention it since it would work in some places of business. Also, could you ask around to friends and neighbors about a sitter? Surely SOMEONE knows a college student available during the daytime hours.

[stripe]

I wanted to be on a jury. They sent me a form asking questions about my eligibility when I was pregnant and had a relative on an extended visit staying with me, and my husband's hours were flexible. I sent the form back with a notation that I was pregnant and gave my due date. Unfortunately they waited to actually send me the notice, and they requested me there a week after my due date. And as I said, when my husband was called, they didn't want him or anyone else with a college degree or professional appearance. Weird.

[Angie in VA]

Wasn't excused for homeschooling here. And at orientation, we were told don't show up w/ kids.

 

I had two dates and both were cancelled, so I'm done for this rotation.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Why DON'T they offer child care? Seems to me they'd have less people needing to be excused. Not that I'd be crazy about strangers watching my kids (we never have babysitters) but now that my kids are 6 and 8, it'd be workable.

[HSMom2One]

I still think the way it is done is pretty unfair and ridiculous. People cannot afford to take all kinds of time off for jury duty. People should not be expected to on top of that pay for daycare if they aren't already paying for daycare. Daycares also don't generally do drop in care out of the blue.

 

Seems like a pretty dumb system.

 

Although at least here the employer is required to pay the regular salary for some period of time. Me as the stay at home parent and homeschooling parent don't get anything to compensate me for that. My services really aren't free and worthless though.

 

In our state, you can be excused if serving causes a hardship to you and your family. And like you said, many people work for employers that feel that participating on jury is a civic duty and keep their employees on the payroll while they are serving. Actually, jury duty doesn't come around all that often for most people. Therefore sacrifice to those involved is not an ongoing one and really that difficult to bear.

 

A dumb system? That seems pretty harsh. Can you recommend a better way to do it?

 

Lucinda

Edited July 20, 2012 by HSMom2One

[stripe]

When I was in college, I got $5 a day, and I had to sit around for three days (two full days and one half day) before being dismissed. This happened twice.

 

At least now most places allow you to call in to see if you need to go, and the payments are generally better for those who do need to come in. In my opinion, this is a great advance.

 

It is problematic to assume that people can take the time off and pay for their own daycare. I don't really know the solution, but I do value the work that juries do.

[ksr5377]

I can't believe how much this varies for everyone. When I received my notice for jury duty there was a form for me to mail in if there was a reason that I could not come. One of the reasons was no other childcare. I simply checked off that little box, mailed it in and never heard another thing from them. I didn't realize how fortunate I was that I had it so easy!

[Lawana]

I served on a jury when dc were 6 & 4. It was no problem for dh to take time off work, and it was a very interesting experience. We ended up acquitting a woman charged with theft for repossessing a car hauling trailer that she had sold to someone who then stopped making payments. I have no idea why they brought her to trial with the evidence (or lack thereof) presented in court. It took us 15 minutes to acquit.

 

I got called again about 5 years ago, but by then, homeschooling parents were excused.

[kristi26]

If you bring your kids, they'll excuse you for the day and then put you back in the system to be called up within 3 months or something. I've had jury duty postponed twice before - once we were going to be on vacation, once I had a nursing baby. But "excused" for those things (or likely anything) is only temporary.

 

I do feel like we must take the opportunity to serve when called. The defendant deserves a jury of peers, and that might mean SAHMs, and maybe even homeschoolers! You never know what the case might be about. I know the babysitter issue is very difficult, but do you know another homeschooling family the kids could stay with? Also, most cities have babysitter services where you can hire someone through them. I have heard nothing but good reports about these. Or a homeschooling family with an available teen?

 

Any chance your husband could even take them to work? Set them up in a conference room to do schoolwork, then maybe let them watch a movie at some point? I can't remember how old your kids are, or if you mentioned that. And maybe he could come in late, leave early to shorten their time there? I know this probably is unlikely, but thought I'd mention it since it would work in some places of business. Also, could you ask around to friends and neighbors about a sitter? Surely SOMEONE knows a college student available during the daytime hours.

 

Well, DH talked to the boss who said it wouldn't be a big deal if I had to go and that DH could just work from home that day if necessary. :tongue_smilie: Thank you, God for one miracle in this so far!

 

I also sent my letter with my little questionairre but haven't heard back yet. I'm sure the best I can hope for is 6 months delay or something.

[4Hisglory]

I haven't read all of the posts , but I had the same thing happen. I sent in my card to be excused and they denied it. I went online and filled in a form with the reason I would like to be excused. They denied it. My main reason was that my youngest is VERY used to having me around all.of.the.time. I don't leave the kids with my husband and go have me time. The only reason I am away from them is for emergencies. That's just how we roll here. I went in on my scheduled day, my husband took the day off. I was there for 3 hours and the man on trial reached a plea aggreement and we were never called. The judge came in afterward and talked to us thanking us for being there, recognizing the inconvenience some had to go through in order to be there and how important it is to have a pool of people from diverse background to create a jury that would be fair, what we would want if we were on trial. I am not looking forward to being called again, due to the juggling that comes with it, but I would definitely go. As hard as it is it is good. A side note, the women who ran the jury pool sign in seemed to be ill treated, disrespected by jury pool members as if it were somehow their fault. It isn't.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed....

I am sorry the man made you cry, not being sympathetic is truly unfortunate for him. Also, the judge in our trial would talk to individuals selected and take their personal circumstances into account, excusing them and selecting another if the hardship was to great. So that may be an option if you are selected.

[Farrar]

I can't believe how much this varies for everyone. When I received my notice for jury duty there was a form for me to mail in if there was a reason that I could not come. One of the reasons was no other childcare. I simply checked off that little box, mailed it in and never heard another thing from them. I didn't realize how fortunate I was that I had it so easy!

 

Yeah, I know that they do it differently... and I've now voir-dire'd three times and it sort of makes sense to me that different judges do it differently, but I'm really surprised by how different the whole system is from place to place. Some places apparently, being a primary caregiver for minor children is an automatic excuse, you can online reschedule, there's childcare provided, they pay you a small amount... Other places they're rude, they won't let you reschedule, you can't bring kids, you don't get paid even enough to park... It just seems bizarre.

 

For years, my mother wouldn't register to vote and "I'm too busy to have jury duty" was one of her reasons.

[JennyD]

Yeah, I know that they do it differently... and I've now voir-dire'd three times and it sort of makes sense to me that different judges do it differently, but I'm really surprised by how different the whole system is from place to place. Some places apparently, being a primary caregiver for minor children is an automatic excuse, you can online reschedule, there's childcare provided, they pay you a small amount... Other places they're rude, they won't let you reschedule, you can't bring kids, you don't get paid even enough to park... It just seems bizarre.

 

For years, my mother wouldn't register to vote and "I'm too busy to have jury duty" was one of her reasons.

 

You can tell your mom that nowadays most jurisdictions use driver's license lists :001_smile:

 

Over the last decade or so there has been a lot of interest across the legal world in reforming jury service. The general trend is to make jury service more widespread but also shorter, less onerous, and generally more pleasant. There has also been quite a bit of social scientific research -- frequently done by researchers in conjunction with various court systems -- about how juries function and how to make the system work better overall, and based on that research some jurisdictions are now experimenting with even more profound reforms, like letting jurors take notes or ask questions.

 

However, individual states and jurisdictions set their own jury service policies, and even with a general consensus about what constitutes 'best practices' in this arena, it can be very difficult to make changes. New York, for example, sequestered (i.e., kept overnight) ALL jurors in felony cases until the late 1990s. This system was of course wildly unpopular among pretty much everyone involved, but the hotel lobby and the court officers union -- whose members earned lots of overtime from guarding the jurors overnight -- fiercely fought any efforts to minimize or abolish sequestration. IIRC a deal was eventually struck that entailed the court officers being able to make up the lost overtime by escorting jurors to the bus and the courts were finally able to do away with routine sequestration, but it illustrates the general challenge.

Edited July 20, 2012 by JennyD

[HSMom2One]

Over the last decade or so there has been a lot of interest across the legal world in reforming jury service. The general trend is to make jury service more widespread but also shorter, less onerous, and generally more pleasant. There has also been quite a bit of social scientific research -- frequently done by researchers in conjunction with various court systems -- about how juries function and how to make the system work better overall, and based on that research some jurisdictions are now experimenting with even more profound reforms, like letting jurors take notes or ask questions.

 

In my state, jurors are allowed to take notes and also submit questions to the judge for clarification or additional questions beyond what the attorneys have presented. It really helps!!

 

Blessings,

Lucinda