in the realm of the fictionman

The Jury Duty Rant

The following email snippet prompted my ranting reply:

> Nothing is wrong with Jury Duty! I just don't want to get pulled
> away from my life…So I am scared to vote now and
> sometimes I know people are not so fortunate to have jury duty
> finished in a day!

<rant>
I used to not want jury duty, back in my college years. Then I did jury duty. I served on a jury for a trial that lasted about a week. It gave me an insight (not flattering, mind you) into lawyers and some of the problems with our legal system.

I earnestly hope I never have to do it again.

However, I would never try to dodge it. It IS a civic duty.

I believe in our freedoms. I believe in our legal system. It's not the system that's broken. I believe all the blame lays squarely on the lawyers. I take these things seriously, and don't take them for granted.

The system works BECAUSE of regular people serving on juries. Without that we might as well still be proving innocence instead of guilt. Without that we might as well just have one professional judge/jury/executioner decide our fate for us with no hope of appeal.

We of all people should understand that you can't have the good without some of the bad. You can't have the freedoms without the responsibilities that go with it. Jury duty is one of those responsibilities. Voting is another. By, of, and for the people. WE are the government, and WE are the system.

It may sound overly simplistic, but there are some issues I get black-and-white on. If you won't accept the responsibilities, you don't deserve the freedoms. That's my view, and because people vote and serve on juries I'm allowed to have that view, and you're allowed to disagree.

</rant>

Just thought I'd share...

Posted by fictionman at March 22, 2006 11:56 PM | TrackBack (0)