Seriously, I do NOT understand cases like this one, where people go to great lengths to avoid being called for jury duty. My whole life I have been dying to serve jury duty, and learn more about the way our courts work first-hand. I’ve never seen the inside of a courtroom, except when delivering documents to my old boss while she was in trial (a very rare instance in family law, as most cases settle well before the trial date, since it tends to be vastly more beneficial for both parties), and that was never particularly exciting as court was never in session.
My old roommate, the law student, was called for jury duty right during orientation for law school, I believe (or maybe it was during finals), so for cases like that I can understand. I think pretty much anyone in academia should be exempt if necessary, as should certain professions – kinda like the draft, I suppose. But I can’t honestly understand how any law student wouldn’t BEG for permission to miss class/exams and attend – what better way to apply what you’re learning?
Maybe this just comes from the fact that I don’t tend to read a lot of Tom Clancy type novels or see any John Grisham based movies, and I’ve only seen a handful of Law and Order episodes the whole way through. I lean more towards the wonky foreign and crime-heist-action flicks, and I tend to watch non-legal-themed TV (aside from the occasional Monk marathon, and that’s really just for Tony Shalhoub) so maybe it’s just that I haven’t been exposed to the potential frights of serving as a juror – I fear no mafia hit or car bomb as vengeance for my courtroom soothsaying.
Anyway. I just don’t get it. I’m sure that if I ever do get called for jury duty, I’ll be disqualified right away for some silly reason, and I’ll be incredibly disappointed – but I can’t picture ever try to get out of it. (Watch me say that, and then get called in on my wedding day or something.) I always figured that, even though in the normal course of my life I feel ashamed and guilty for not keeping up with current events and local news as much as most people, this might be the one area in which my ignorance might actually be helpful – both to myself, in helping me actually get selected for duty, and to the courts, in providing a stunningly uninformed seat in the box, ready and impressionable.
C’mon, pick me, pick me!!! I promise I’m FINE with missing work AND exams to help further the cause of impartial justice! Also, free lunch!