Looking at this thread: Help me get out of Jury Duty - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board
and many others about people who want to avoid Jury Duty, I’m wondering if there is anything you can do to make yourself more likely to be picked. I’d like to be on a jury; it would be interesting to see the process first hand and it would give me some time off work with pay. Is there anything you can do to make your name more likely to come up?
First off, it is likely you can volunteer to be put into the jury pool. Call your local Board of Elections, or the local courts, to ask about that.
Once you’re in the jury pool, my understanding is that who will be part of the jury is determined by lot - at least that’s how my experience was. So I don’t think you can actually finagle your way into an actual jury.
Don’t go to college? It’s “common knowledge” that more educated people are more likely to be kicked off by one of the lawyers. Does anyone know if this is actually true?
I don’t think a broad education is considered a liability, but specific knowledge germaine to a case might be because both sides figure your mind is made up from your training and isn’t as likely to be influenced by testimony introduced in the trial. In other words, you aren’t the blank slate they prefer.
I was picked for a jury to decide if a sex offender was still a threat to society and must be kept under control even though he had served his time. A question posed to each juror was, “How knowledgeable are you about psychology?”
I replied I had 3 college hours in psychology as a minimum bachelor’s degree requirement, but it wasn’t my major nor my occupation by a long shot. I was retained.
I’d like simply to know how to get called. I’m 32, registered to vote since the day I turned 18, and I’ve gotten a notice twice in all those years - and that was twice in two weeks. Since I couldn’t financially spare that much time off, and one day of showing up gets you “off” for a year, I called and disputed the second one and they told me never mind. But still, I want to do it, just not quite that often or quite this infrequently, y’know?
And the day I did go in, I didn’t even get called for anything at all. It was less than a week after 9-11, and I had to take the El for the first time, got myself all in a flutter and panic (and, to make my day even more delightful, my husband had kindly packed a 9 inch long ceremonial knife in my bag that I didn’t know about. Not intentionally - I had brought the bag to church and he packed my athame for me in a pocket I don’t usually use, so I didn’t think to check for it. Security was not amused.) and then I just sat around all day in one of the largest target high-rise buildings in Chicago reading a book. Mmmmm…nerve-wracking and boring, my favorite combination! :rolleyes:
Still, I do want to do my duty, I think it’d be interesting, I’m a stay at home mom with plenty of contacts for babysitting, so even a multi-day trial wouldn’t suck (although a sequestered months long thing would, of course) and I have some but not too much higher education (A.A.). I’d be gold, right? But my numbers won’t hit in their lottery.
And don’t forget to register to vote. At least in Maryland where I grew up, jurors were selected from the rolls of registered voters.
Are you looking to be on a JURY or just have to serve “Jury Duty”?
Jury duty (for me) is showing up the courthouse with hundreds of other citizens. Then, we get broken into smaller groups of 100 or so, and get sent to a courtroom. There, shit happens, and sometimes you start the voir dire (jury selection) process. Sometimes you don’t.
There is probably some city office you can call to make sure you’re on the jury duty list. I know people who haven’t been called for the 15 years they’ve lived in Baltimore. Clearly, whatever database jury duty is pulling from doesn’t have them in there.
To be selected for a jury, who knows. Probably dependent on the lawyers quick assessment of you (they might know whether you’re married, your education level, your job, whether you’ve been convicted of a crime, and a couple other things.)
I’ve had jury duty several times. Most times during the voir dire process (the jury selection process), they’ve filled before they get to me. I’ve been rejected by defendant’s lawyers a couple times. I’m white (seems to be a biggie for some lawyers), and my occupation and education are listed as “engineer” and “masters degree”, respectively.
“Jury Duty” really. Though if it were to happen I’d give it my best shot to actually serve on one.
It just depends on the case and what kind of people they are looking for. I wanted to serve on the jury the one time I was called but the defendant, choosing to represent himself, did not help select the jury at all (whether or not he had a right to do that as his own council I don’t know.) He was an attractive man in his early 20’s, so when the prosecutor was picking a jury she chose a panel made up entirely of middle aged men. At the time I was a 22 year old woman so I was stuck in the back and actively ignored when she was asking questions of the potential jurors. He kind of shot himself in the foot by not helping to select the jury if he had the option since the attorney made sure to pick the jury she felt would cut him the least amount of slack.
Just anecdotal, but that’s been my experience. I’m 52, I’ve been called for jury duty about a dozen times. I actually made it through voire dire only once, at age 20. After I got a BS in math, I never cleared the selection process again. It could just be coincidence…
I actually mentioned during the voir dire process how much I wanted to be on a jury. I work as a paralegal and have participated in trials from the perspective of being at the defense table, but wanted to see what it was like from the jury’s side. Both sides seemed comfortable with that, and the judge was bemused.
Unfortunately, the case involved some potential police misconduct, and one of the questions posed to all of us was whether anyone had had any negative experience with law enforcement. I was honest and said “yes,” and off I went.
The defense attorney in the case came up to me later and mentioned how disappointed he was that I’d said anything because he really wanted me on that jury. Which probably proves that the prosecutor made the right call booting me off. 
I’m a 54 year old teacher with no criminal record, registered for voting.
I’ve never been called for jury duty.
All those hours spent watching Perry Mason, Law and Order and CSI are going to waste!
Interesting. I have a BS, as well, and it didn’t prevent me from being selected to serve on a jury the very first time I was called for duty. The second time I was called, I was not selected, but I think it was actually because I was pregnant. They took one look at me and didn’t even ask me any questions, they just dismissed me. I figured it was because it was a drunk driving case…they didn’t want any hysterical mommies on the jury.
And sometimes you can’t figure it out at all.
Last February, I served on a jury that ultimately convicted a crack dealer. I live in a very rural county south of Cleveland.
During the selection process, one of the jurors was asked about his occupation. He’d been a policeman in Cleveland. Had he ever worked in narcotics? Yes, for years. I figured he’d be out of there so fast he wouldn’t even get to warm the seat. (As I found out later, he thought the same thing.) But there he sat on the jury after all the dust settled, and he ended up being our foreman. I was glad he was there; he was a font of knowledge about procedure, as well as drugs.
More interestingly (in a Jerry Springer sort of way) was the woman who was originally seated next to me. When they asked if anyone knew of a reason they couldn’t serve on the jury, she raised her hand and said, “Yeah, like, the guy who was there in the house and is in the mental hospital now? That’s my brother.”
A buddy of mine has a graduate degree and was selected to serve on a jury. What’s worse is that he served on the same jury as a guy who was a lawyer albeit not a litigator. :eek:
Get on as many government lists as you can, that are not bad ones. The property tax, and voter roles are two lists.
When I was a civil litigator, we were generally hoping and praying for intelligent, educated jurors. We kicked off people who were too uneducated to understand the case or the process. (For example, I remember using a strike to throw off a woman who had served on both civil and criminal juries in the past, but did not know the difference between a civil and a criminal case. Yikes!)
What we generally didn’t want were:
-lawyers
-experts in the field the case was about
That was because lawyers and experts tend to have their own ideas about things, regardless of what evidence is presented, and are wild cards in the jury room. They also tend to lead the juries.
But, a general college education was considered a wonderful thing.
I think the supposed theory behind wanting uneducated jurors is that they will be easily led by lawyers and expert witnesses. That theory is woefully out of date. Any reverence that uneducated people had for lawyers and expert witnesses is long gone. In fact, in my limited experience, uneducated jurors also tend to be wild cards, because they don’t want to listen to wealthy lawyers and wealthy experts. They also tend to have opinions that are 1) uninformed and 2) not swayed by anything that happens at trial. Post-trial polls revealed strong biases against anyone who appeared to be wealthy and/or educated, whether those people were lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants, or expert witnesses. Uneducated people actually seemed to hate expert witnesses who had impressive credentials as being “too full of themselves” and would listen more to lesser-qualified local expert witnesses than they would to a person at the top of their field with lots of education and experience.
I would take a college-educated person on a civil jury any day. People with less education can be good jurors, but in general, are problematic.
I’ve never figured it out. I’m 40. I’ve had a driver’s license since I was 16. I’ve been a registered voter since I was 18. I’ve been a property tax payer/home owner for 13 years. I’m so average middle class that I’m occasionally tempted to get a purple mohawk just to prove I can.
I’ve never been called for any kind of jury duty. I too would like to see what it’s like.
Try loitering outside the courthouse. I’m serious. A friend (please note that for obvious reasons, I’m not going to name names) who works in the U.K. court system tells the tale of some of his colleagues being sent out by the judge to collar passers-by.
I’m not sure why you think it’s a terrible thing that educated people are sitting on juries. 