Today I fulfilled my civic duty…..sort of…

I got summoned a couple of months ago for jury duty and my first reaction like most people was “oh no!”. It’s strange that almost everyone’s reaction to jury summons is akin to finding out they’re about to be audited by the IRS, or drafted and sent off to some hot and dusty oil war. I firmly believe that jury duty is eveyone’s civic duty and everyone should not only do it, but understand and respect the system they are part of and why without them it falls apart. That all said, I still wasn’t that gung-ho about serving. 

So, this morning at the ungodly time of 7:45am, I arrived at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse in downtown L.A. The Los Angeles County court is the largest (in terms of number of cases, not building size!) in the US and as you might imagine, like the city it represents, it’s a bit of a madhouse. We were directed to a jury assembly room, essentially a waiting area that was decorated when the building was built in the 50’s and hadn’t changed since. If anyone ever wants to check out some authentic fifty year old local government interior, they should look no further. There were about 200 of us in total and after having been explained the process in detail, we were told to sit back and wait and that one way or another we would be there until 5pm. Los Angeles county changed their system a few years ago, so that if you are not assigned to a trial at the end of your first day, you are sent home and they consider your jury obligation complete. It makes sense and means that people’s don’t have to spend days on end at the courthouse waiting, but of course it means that you spend the whole time clock watching, hoping that you don’t get picked before the end of the day. At about 11am, they called about 40 people and sent them off. Those not picked let out a huge sigh of relief. We were sent to lunch and immediately after another 20 were called. All of this detail is really leading up to the punch line and the culmination of the day.

After sitting in the freezing assembly room all day, it was looking less and less likely that I and the 40 or so remaining jurors would be assigned to a trial and we would be done. At 4pm, there was still no word and we had been told that sometime between 4 and 5, but no later than 5 we would be sent home if not already called. Then, suddenly at 4:15, disaster! The voice came over the PA system, “can all jurors in the hallway please come back into the assembly room”. This was the fatal line that had preceded each calling. There was a very audible groan throughout the room from all those who had thought we were home free! The voice came back on “The next jury panel I will call is for a thirty day trial starting on Monday”. There was dead silence, the room couldn’t believe that not only were they going to call jurors minutes before the end of the day, but for a 30 day trial! That’s business days, so 6 weeks! The average trail last 6-7 days. The voice came back on “I’m only kidding!! You can all go home, you’re excused”. There were a few shrieks from one corners of the room and the guy sitting next to me was white a sheet. I honestly thought he was going to be sick. “That wasn’t funny at all, not cool, not cool at all!” he muttered. We quickly filed out, collected our completion forms and headed out before anyone could change their mind.

So although I technically completed my jury obligation in the eyes of the county, I didn’t actually get to serve. I’m conflicted. I wanted to experience it first hand and as I already said, I feel strongly about the purpose, but I guess I’m really just a big hypocrite, since I was relieved to not be assigned to a trial. It was an interesting experience, the part of it that I managed to witness and certainly helped to demystify the process.

One of the big aguments that I think people have against serving is the payment aspect. If you are unemployed, self empoyed, a home maker or retired. You are going to end up out of pocket. You really don’t have any say on how long the trial is that you will be assigned to and the court is far less accomodating of any excuses relating to financial hardship then they used to be. Although your employer has to let you take part in jury duty by law, they don’t have to pay you. Most do, but for a limited ammount of time. My company pays for 4 weeks, which apparently is high. For these resons I can totally understand people’s hesitiation especially if you end up on a longer trial. I on the other hand have no excuse! But this is just one reason, there seems to be a deeply engrained, cultural attitude toward jury service, we all want to avoid it. 

It seems a shame, it almost seems like it could be a fun thing to do.