What law ensures juries have a proportionate number of primary breadwinners?

Question

It occurs to me that the people likeliest to try to wangle their way out of Jury Service are going to be those who are hit hardest in the pocket - namely, primary earners. We see juries across the world populated mostly by the demographic that is most habituated to the lowly compensation that Jury duty offers - namely, housewives, students and the unemployed. How are (or could?) we ensure that we have a representative number of primary breadwinners on juries WITHOUT harming the companies who value their work so much as to pay these higher salaries??

Thanks,


Jaybee.

Edit - guys, PLEASE don't churn out everything you know about jury service selection, I already know HOW jurors are selected for the most part, but resolve MY query!!!

Answer 1

UK

Jurys are selected from people who are on the Electoral Roll.
This is the document that shows who is entitled to vote in Local, European and Parliamentary Elections.
It comprises all walks of life not just breadwinners and certainly members of the public in high and lower positions. Unemployed people are not exempt either.

Answer 2

Do you have any evidence to back this theory up? I work in the legal profession, and most of the juries I've seen have been a fairly mixed group. Higher-paid workers may TRY to talk their way out of jury service, but it doesn't work. Both sides in a case get their share of challenges for cause and peremptory challenges, so even if one side may be favored by having lower-income jurists, the other side will not, so the final result will be mixed between income levels, sexes, races, etc.

Further, some of the "unemployed" of whom you speak are retired adults, most of whom have been the breadwinner at some point, and have certainly retained that perspective.

Answer 3

You ask two questions.
1. "What law...?" There is none other than the law of averages.

2. "How could we ensure....?"
This question is geared towards the duress placed on commerce and not the selection process; albeit, I do concur with Goingloopy,

I would suggest for your contemplation that governments could give some type of significant tax break to the companies and to the employees based on the hours employees have served on a jury.

A better question:
How do you encourage men and women to want to serve jury duty?


Brimstone

Answer 4

Radical thought.
Put the responsibility of jury duty selection into the hands of the companies allowing them to rotate employees into the pool durning the year.

Answer 5

There isn't any that I'm aware of, unless some state has a specific statute to that effect.

Earning capacity and job status are not grounds for requiring or excusing jury status.

Answer 6

In my state, you cannot get excused from jury duty because of work. Homekeepers with children were however eligible to get excused. So, it would be the opposite of your example. I think you are wrong in your assumptions.

Answer 7

Good point about getting working people to be jurors, F**k the companies though, they are just machines.

Answer 8

randomly picked from the electoral register they come from all walks of life