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cmbdiesel · #14 05-23-2009, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by link

Is that not an allegorical account of jury duty?

The original author is not to be blamed, even if his is an angry response. If the courts really wanted people to be willing to sit on jury duty they should pay reasonable wages. Jury duty is the height of crude exploitation. Nearly everyone involved in the courts except the person on trial and the typically moronic losers that can’t get out of jury duty are paid a reasonable wage to be in Court. Not only that, but people who are obligated to be on jury duty get punished by not being able to earn their regular wage. This makes the jurors reasonably feel disrespected and used. And they are. Jurors probably just want to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. In the court system, even the perp has a chance of getting something of value from the experience, but the jurors are guaranteed only to get *****ed every single time.

If the courts want a true jury of peers, they should pay $40 per hour or more. That way people wouldn’t be offended and financially injured for having to be on jury duty. In this pay range, people up to middle management would be fairly compensated for their time. People who make an above average income, would only lose about half to 75% or so of their income. And the average house dad and pee-on schlep that makes maybe $12 per hour would be entreated to a true “honor” by serving in this capacity. But no. Even after 200 plus years of court systems in this country, their motor force is still to ***** people by forcing them to endure something amounting to slave wages and obligate them to sit through a seemingly endless and largely hollow display of tedium.

The court’s typical defense is trot out the tired and utter BS pretense that “it’s an honor to serve.” I suppose some facile brained may think something along the lines of: “Gosh, for some time in my miserable and pathetic loser existence, my opinion maters and I get to control someone.” But only the benighted would think this way. People want income. Period. Would the Judge be there if he didn’t pull down nearly $150K No. Would the clerks be there for maybe $1 per hour and a bus pass? Not a chance. Would lawyers even bother to show up? Only if they wanted training. Would the janitors show up? They’d rather clean their own toilet.

How many juries have screwed the people on trial because they’re pissed at having to be there and want to punish someone for it? I bet most. I bet angering the jury by dragging the process out is part of the calculus of even having a jury. Crap compensation amounts to an awl driven lobotomy to the concept of fairness.

It’s amazing in this country, which knows the importance of wages more than most others, that we still don’t get it when it comes to jury duty. The expression is: “No system is greater than the weakest segment.” In our courts, that would be the jurors who get *****ed every single time. Why we make jury duty an exercise in arrogance and abuse rather than a reasonably compensated, part-time job it is, is completely incomprehensible. It is among the most idiotic, cheap things this country does. It is and always has been a shameful abuse of power.

Don’t get me wrong, a jury of peers is a good thing, but in our system jurors are not typically peers because they are nearly incarcerated slaves obligated to *****ed as part of the process.

I feel better now. Thanks for the post!

Sounds like you need a new country..... Be sure not to let the door hit you in the a$$ on your way out....

The two times I have sat on a jury, I did so because I felt I was fulfilling my obligation to the system. Does that make me a 'moronic loser'? I did not b1tch about it, even though I was self employed. I could have easily been excused, and was even asked, but I felt that I should do my part. Seems like you are part of the entitlement crowd, who feels that the world owes you something, looking for the free lunch. Seems to me that 'moronic loser' fits someone else better than those to whom you applied it.

Your $40/hr idea, who pays for it? A fulled seated jury would cost over $500/hr, then what about a sequestered jury? $12000/day Your idea is ludicrous. Get some unemployed people on that kind of jury, and they would deliberate for weeks on end. The system is not perfect, but you should really have a better one in hand before calling it a steaming pile.