Quote Originally Posted by Tybee View Post
Rob, I hated jury duty and was surprised and distressed when I was chosen. It was extremely stressful to sit in judgment on my peers.
On the other hand, I felt good doing my civic duty and felt good that I made myself available to be on the jury, as I am a fair person and I would want someone like myself on a jury if I were ever in that situation.
So for me, it was a matter of duty and of doing unto others as I would want done to me. I believe in our jury system and I need to do my part to make sure that we still have a jury system. I think it is a duty of citizenship, and transcends duty to my coworkers, and yes, I had to miss work and lost money.

I don't quite understand your take on this, as I believe that our jury system is one of the protections that we have as citizens. I don't understand why you are not invested in protecting a fair jury system.
Tybee. your posts has really made me think for a bit and I wanted to take some time before I replied to you. I do agree with you - the thought of sitting in judgement on my peers in this setting is very stressful to me, too - but I'm going to guess for a different reason?

My take is that there are too many laws, that victimless crimes should often not be prosecuted, and that the American (and to be fair, also Canadian) way of punishing those convicted of both felonies and misdemeanors for the remainder of their lives through various bars that can not be overcome with any kind of record - I have a hard time, a very hard time being part of that. I'm not saying that all crimes should not be punished - certainly I'd agree with murder and rape and exploitation of the elderly and child abuse or whatever heinous awful crime you can think of should be punished. But I've got issues with the system not allowing for a fresh start EVER once convicted (enough so that I'd have no problem doing an automatic not guilty in many cases) and also for the sentencing gap that exists between men and women for similar crimes (men serve longer sentences on average and I ABSOLUTELY would use my vote for a not guilty for this reason alone).....let's just leave it that much of how American justice is doled out and how it works flat out does not work for me. I am 100% unable to see this or to divorce myself from this stance.......and I've known too many people in the 85006 who were mistreated by the justice system - I can't unsee this, either.

Realistically, I am indeed unfit to be a juror based on the expectation of impartiality. I just am unable to provide this - my life experiences in America have rendered me unable to meet this requirement.

For the record, I find this fact both depressing and stressful. It would be nice if I were capable of believing in the system and if I were capable of filling the role that society seems to expect as far as jury duty goes - but that ship sailed long ago. Life showed me/taught me lessons that preclude myself from every being able to fit this expected role. As it is said in Spanish - Asi es la vida. So is life.

Give me some credit. With my life experiences I still showed up for jury duty anyway - I know folks in the 85006 who refuse to appear for moral and ethical reasons. At least I showed. Given my life experiences, I consider this a concession. Rob