Jury Duty ?

Question

what does jury duty mean. and recently i was watchin a tv show, in which they were showing a man being called for jury duty. if its some legal thing involving government, why would the officials call upon normal people to do the jury duty. i just dont get the whole system of this jury duty.
any 1 help out.

Answer 1

You get a summons in the mail. If you're eligible and can't find an excuse to get out of it you have to show up at the court house.

Here you wait in a room with a couple dozen other people waiting to get selected. Most of the time you hang around all day and nothing happens. After a few days all you have to do is call in and after two weeks you're off the hook.

If you are selected you have to sit on the jury. You listen to the details of the case. Evaluate the witness and defendants testimony. After the case has been presented you retire to the jury room and discuss what you have heard.

After that you all take a vote. This often has to be done several times. If you can't come up with an unanimous decision as to guilty or innocent after a certain amount of time they declare a mistrial and start over with another set of jurists.

I was only selected for a trial one time. The last thing I wanted to do was sit on the jury for 5 dollars a day. The case involved several people suing a rental company because due to a paperwork snafu they were pulled over by forest rangers in Yosemite who thought their rented van was stolen.

When the judge asked everyone if they knew the difference between being arrested and detained I raised my hand and explained that on one occasion I myself was detained by forestry officials because a friend and I accidentally trespassed into an area we shouldn't have.

I told the judge I didn't think it was a big deal whereupon the attorney for the people suing asked the judge to dismiss me. Thankfully he did. Like I wanted to sit through the whole thing.

Remember jurists are only paid 5 dollars a day and a trial can take weeks. By law your employer has to give you the time off but he doesn’t have to pay you.

Answer 2

In criminal cases, the accused has the right to be tried before a jury of his/her peers. That means the general public. Therefore, all citizens have a duty to serve on a jury when called. Each state has different rules as to how this works, but here you can be called as often as every other year. When you are called, the way it used to work is that you would sit around for two or three weeks, and any time a case needed a jury, they would pull a lot of you in and the attorneys for both sides would ask questions to pick people for the jury. A few years ago, I was called in eight times, and each time they threw me off because I had just finished law school and taken the Bar exam, and nobody wanted me on their jury! Since then, California has gone to a "one day or one trial" system. You are told that you have to be available for a week, but you call in every night to see if they need you the next day. They could end up not needing you until Friday. Once you go in, they pull in panels again from which to choose juries, but if by the end of the day they haven't picked you, you are done for the next year or two. If they do pick you, you have to serve until the trial is over.

I'm scheduled for jury duty next week and I'm terrified, because I'm assuming nothing will happen during the holiday, and on January 2, I have to take a group of students to a competition in Canada. Nobody else will cover for me, so I don't know what I would do if they insist that I come back that week.

Answer 3

The U.S. constitution guarantees an alleged criminal a trial with a jury of there peers. Over the years there have been debates of the literal meaning of this, but the accepted practice is what you see today.

The system is there also because if all you have is bench trials, where the judge is also the jury, you give way to much power to the state.

Usually when a new judge comes to the bench, they are more likely to be pro defendant. Then after 2-3 years of hearing the same BS from the same people, they have a tendency to lean to the prosecution. The jury nullifies that.

Answer 4

Jury duty is where they get a group of people to decide something in court. People have a right to a jury in certain situations because of the constitution. It comes from the idea that everyday people will bring their own life experiences with them, and combined, all of them will be better at coming with the best decision at a trial.

Answer 5

It is considered "jury duty" when you are summoned to court to be a member of the jury. The jury would help decide upon a verdict or solution to a case. When you are 18, you will be among the rest of the people who may be asked to be asked to serve.

Answer 6

Being a U.S. citizen, it is an honor to be asked to serve jury duty. So few times do we as citizens receive such requests. The process to getting on a jury is cumbersome, yet it's quite necessary. Judges need to know that jurors will be as impartial as possible. The less a person knows about a particular crime (facts, people, etc.), the more impartial the person could be. Of course, we as humans have emotions, which can affect our ability to be impartial. The jury selection process takes this into account as well. Hang in there, and try to enjoy the process.

Answer 7

you go and listen to the case that is being held before the court.
Then you decide if the defendant is guilty or innocent.
First you pray you are related to him so that you do not get picked for jury duty because it sucks.

Answer 8

JURY DUTY IS 12 PEOPLE ,WHO ARE SUPPOSE TO HEAR BOTH SIDES OF AN ISSUE AND DECIDE AND AGREE WHICH PARTY IS INNOCENT OR GUILTY

Answer 9

To be judged by your peers!