# Fuck JURY DUTY!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 27, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247 "2004-01-27T02:54:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![CatPerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CatPerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatPerson)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/121 "2004-01-31T11:42:56Z")
I wasn’t rude to the woman on the phone. I told her I couldn’t do jury duty because I’m in college. She said postpone until summer and I said I might as well go because my dad got the same jury duty for the same day. I will get a ride with him. Next time those things come in the mail I’m throwing them away…I’m moving out of state anyway. They won’t find me. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/122 "2004-01-31T12:23:08Z")
Good idea. But stand by your principles and move out of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/123 "2004-01-31T16:39:32Z")
> [@CatPerson](#): > > I wasn’t rude to the woman on the phone. I told her I couldn’t do jury duty because I’m in college. She said postpone until summer and I said I might as well go because my dad got the same jury duty for the same day. I will get a ride with him. Next time those things come in the mail I’m throwing them away…I’m moving out of state anyway. They won’t find me. People do vote in other states, **CatPerson**. You will find it difficult to escape every court in the country. You might even find from this experience that jury duty isn’t that bad and is a small price to pay for the freedom we all enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/124 "2004-01-31T17:01:57Z")
I will try, once again, to state this clearly, **lola**. Students. Have. An. Exemption. Not for the “reasons” you supplied, but more because the government has a vested interest in the education of its citizens. And for all you “It’s just because she’s young” people, stop it! I’m young! I went to a college that **prided** itself on civic responsibility and service, so much so that one of its students participated in an act of civil disobedience to educate the populace about how unprotected the airline industry was from terrorist attack, and accepted imprisonment with dignity. Youth has nothing to do with acting like an adult. If I had been summoned for jury duty, my professors would have drooled all over me with joy and given me extra credit. Part of the scads of money my parents were paying for college was _so that I could learn and experience stuff like this_. Fuck him being on a jury or, egads, ever voting again. My real fear is that he actually makes it through pharmacy school (unlikely, with his level of intelligence) and holds life and death in his hands for his customers. Does anyone really think he’s in pharmacy school because he _likes helping and serving people?_ More likely he saw average starting salary, $79,000, and jumped. I’m sorry, **Canvasshoes** , but I’m 24, and anyone I meet my age who displays so much ignorance should be sent back to the gene pool to try again. My parents, and hell, TELEVISION, raised me better than that. And I’m registered for the selective service too, despite being female and gay. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/125 "2004-01-31T18:01:37Z")
> [@CatPerson](#): > > Next time those things come in the mail I’m throwing them away…I’m moving out of state anyway. They won’t find me. I desperately hope I don’t know you in real life without being aware of it, because I like to believe I have pretty good taste in friends and wouldn’t permit someone like you to slip through the twat filter. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/126 "2004-01-31T18:39:17Z")
> [@CatPerson](#): > > Next time those things come in the mail I’m throwing them away…I’m moving out of state anyway. They won’t find me. Somehow I don’t foresee a shining future as a pharmacist for this idiot. **catperson** can’t even handle a little routine paperwork like a jury exemption. S/he is gonna have SO much fun with the endless reports, inventories, etc. required by pharmacists. Wonder if s/he will pettishly blow them off too? All that stupid legal stuff. Way too busy. **catperson** seems much better suited to be a non-voting, non-driving fry cook. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/127 "2004-01-31T20:43:34Z")
Just ignoring a jury summons is a bad idea. In California, you may be cited for contempt of court. Likely it is the same in other states. I googled “jury duty, contempt of court” and came up with [this:](http://www.mendocino.courts.ca.gov/juryduty.html) > [@](#): > > \*A prospective juror who fails to appear for jury service **or otherwise contact the court** , will be immediately resummoned for a new appearance date. If the juror again fails to appear at this second summons date or contact the court, the juror will be ordered to appear at the courthouse **to show cause why he or she should not be held in “contempt of court”** , punishable by fine, incarceration, or both. At the OSC hearing, if the juror is found in contempt of court, the judge may impose a fine up to $1000. \* (emphasis mine) It may seem difficult for the court to prove you actually saw the summons, but the courts have contended with the problem long enough to know that lack of a response from you usually means the summons went in the circular file after you read it. There isn’t time or money for them to pursue every goldbrick who doesn’t care to do his/her duty, but once in a while. . . You might consider whether a contempt conviction might harm your chances for getting a pharmacy license. If it wouldn’t, it should. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/128 "2004-01-31T21:17:15Z")
Heh. Is it just me, or is the idea of this twerp actually getting a job as a pharmacist somewhere between funny and terrifying? Customer: Mr. Pharmacist? I’m having heart palpitations. I just started taking these two medicines and I’m from out of state so I can’t talk to my doctor. I’m taking medicine A and B. Could you see if there’s some sort of drug-interaction thing going on or if I need to go to the hospital? Twerp: No. Customer: :: blinks in astonishment :: No? Why? Twerp: It’s too haaaaaaaaaaard an’ I don’ waaaana. Customer: Um. But I might…er…die. Twerp: So? If you die, it’s not my problem, but if I help you, it means getting outta my chair and picking up that heavy book. I know which one makes more sense to _me_! Customer: I thought you guys took the Hypocratic Oath or something like it. Isn’t it your duty to help people? Twerp: Duty? Doesn’t “duty” mean “Stupid or hard stuff that other people want me to do”? Anyway, you’re boring and your voice bothers my ears and I was _just_ at the good part of my book (we get to see if Pop gets hopped on! 🙂 ) and I don’ waaaaaana talk to you any more. :: slams window shut :: Customer: :: dies :: ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/129 "2004-02-01T02:50:59Z")
> [@DesertGeezer](#): > > Just ignoring a jury summons is a bad idea. In California, you may be cited for contempt of court. Likely it is the same in other states. > > . My former roommate in Los Angeles always wrote '“not at this address” on jury summons’s. He’s been doing it for many years. So far, the court system has let him slide. Why, I’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/130 "2004-02-01T03:51:10Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Like I said before, I’ll bet that if this rant had been by a popular and clever doper, one who writes well, not ONE person would have come in guns blazing with the wounded cry of “where is your sense of DUTY”??? See, where you’ve gone wrong is, a clever doper would never have written the OP, and people who write like the OP are never going to be popular. ---
**Author:** ![Montresor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@Montresor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montresor)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/131 "2004-02-01T04:01:53Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > My former roommate in Los Angeles always wrote '“not at this address” on jury summons’s. He’s been doing it for many years. So far, the court system has let him slide. Why, I’ll never know. I don’t know what it is about this thread, but the whole thing makes me so freakin’ mad, I just can’t resist checking in on the damn thing. As many other posters have noted in an attempt to forcibly enlighten the OP, different jurisdictions approach the incalcitrant potential juror differently. In my county, immediately north of San Francisco, you can blow off your civic duty for years and apparently no one else will give any more of a fuck than you do yourself. On the other hand, I’ve heard that in the city, where they have had problems assembling sufficient jurors, that ignoring your summons will get you a visit from SF Sheriffs Dept deputies. I can’t say whether or not that’s true, but those guys certainly don’t have a whole lot else to do. Now, I will treasure a tender moment with the mental image of the OP being carted away by the right-wing death squad SF cops from “Magnum Force.” ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/132 "2004-02-01T04:38:20Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Heh. > > Is it just me, or is the idea of this twerp actually getting a job as a pharmacist somewhere between funny and terrifying? I’ll vote for the latter, though your vignette was as funny as **Cervaise’s** contribution. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/133 "2004-02-01T04:50:31Z")
> [@CatPerson](#): > > I wasn’t rude to the woman on the phone. Which doesn’t mean much when you came storming in here calling her a bitch. > [@](#): > > I told her I couldn’t do jury duty because I’m in college. She said postpone until summer and I said I might as well go because my dad got the same jury duty for the same day. I will get a ride with him. Then why the hell were you complaining at all, then. You resolved to go of your own accord **knowing** that you could postpone or defer your service! You made the choice, then you came here and bitched about it as if someone else had forced your hand. :wally > [@](#): > > Next time those things come in the mail I’m throwing them away… Good way to get thrown in jail for contempt of court. (Yeah, not just fined, but jailed. There are judges who are cracking down on self-centered little morons who think that they’re too damned important to heed a jury summons in the proper fashion. > [@](#): > > I’m moving out of state anyway. They won’t find me. No, but wherever you move will. You don’t have to vote, you can and will end up in the jury pool simply by having a driver’s license, or paying taxes or - in some jurisdictions - simply by having a telephone number. You need to start to get the message: you are a part of this society. You are obligated to the same responsibilities as the rest of your fellow citizens. You can’t run away from it, you need to grow up and face it and quit being a whiny little bitch about it. How many times do you need to get smacked down before you get it through your thick skull? > [@Montresor](#): > > In my county, immediately north of San Francisco, you can blow off your civic duty for years and apparently no one else will give any more of a fuck than you do yourself. On the other hand, I’ve heard that in the city, where they have had problems assembling sufficient jurors, that ignoring your summons will get you a visit from SF Sheriffs Dept deputies. I can’t say whether or not that’s true, but those guys certainly don’t have a whole lot else to do. It’s probably true. And it may not be as much of a problem in rural or mainly suburban counties with more homogenous populations, but there have been a series of lawsuits and inquiries lodged with courts because the methods used for assembling jury pools were not only failing to provide sufficient _numbers_ of jurors, they were failing to provide sufficiently diverse jury pools. While courts have been touchy about interpreting “peers” it’s becoming more accepted that it’s not fair to say, a young minority urban male to have a jury pool dominated by whites, elderly people, females and suburbanites. As this problem becomes more widespread nationally, expect to see more jury commissioners expanding the scope of their search for qualified jurors and expect to see more chief judges throwing hissy fits about summons-dodgers and issuing bench warrants and giving jury scofflaws the (very deserved) what-for. I got a jury summons in the mail today, in Manhattan, where I no longer live. Unlike the OP, I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to serve. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/134 "2004-02-01T05:39:17Z")
It’s been a long while since I recieved a summons. I’ve been registered to vote at my Long Beach address for 6 months. I haven’t done jury duty since I lived in North Holywood, more than 2 years ago. I wouldn’t mind serving at all. Don’t they\* want \* me??? ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/135 "2004-02-01T06:17:53Z")
Oddly enough, after reading this thread last night, I got a summons today. I’m scheduled to appear on the 27th of next month. But unlike the selfish and idiotic OP, I’m going. Yeah, it’s an incovenience. Yeah, it probably won’t be a bucket of laughs. I _will_ try to get excused, as serving on a jury will make me lose workdays I can ill afford to do without. But if I serve, I serve. That’s what being a mature, responsible adult is all about. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/136 "2004-02-01T07:38:39Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Heh. > Customer: Mr. Pharmacist? I’m having heart palpitations. I just started taking these two medicines and I’m from out of state so I can’t talk to my doctor. I’m taking medicine A and B. Could you see if there’s some sort of drug-interaction thing going on or if I need to go to the hospital? > > Twerp: No. > > Customer: :: blinks in astonishment :: No? Why? > > Twerp: It’s too haaaaaaaaaaard an’ I don’ waaaana. **Fenris,** between you and **Cervaise** I always try not to be drinking anything when your posts come up. . .or I’d be laughing and spewing some kind of liquid out my nose! Everyone nose that’s not good for the keyboard. 😃 I did too spell it right! ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/137 "2004-02-01T11:06:08Z")
> [@CatPerson](#): > > Next time those things come in the mail I’m throwing them away…I’m moving out of state anyway. They won’t find me. Fuck that. I was somewhat sympathetic before, but this is ridiculous. The right to a trial by jury is one of the founding principles of this country. Under English rule in the 18th century, you could be arrested, tried, and convicted of a crime more or less at the whim of the king or his agents, without more than a token trial and without even being told what the hell you were guilty of. The whole reason we have a jury system is to prevent shit like that. It is your **duty** as a citizen of the United States to serve. If you don’t want to participate in this democracy, go find yourself a nice dictatorship somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/138 "2004-02-01T20:53:47Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > … I’m sorry, **Canvasshoes** , but I’m 24, and anyone I meet my age who displays so much ignorance should be sent back to the gene pool to try again. My parents, and hell, TELEVISION, raised me better than that. Once again, I have a daughter who is 24. And my assertion was NOT “all youngsters are X” along the lines of what I say in a previous post, that of: "There are kids who are being brats because they’re just spoiled brats, and then, as I said above **sometimes** this is how people act when they believe they’ve been backed into a corner. However, upon seeing some of **Catperson’s** subsequent posts, like this one: > [@](#): > > Next time those things come in the mail I’m throwing them away…I’m moving out of state anyway. They won’t find me. …and attempts to further explain and complain. It’s obvious that my support of him was misplaced, and that others’ assessments were correct. He IS a brat just for the sake of being a brat, and none of the information regarding how to go about “getting one’s way” in the workaday world has appeared to pierce the void with him. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/139 "2004-02-01T20:56:19Z")
ERK!! This sentence: “And my assertion was NOT “all youngsters are X” along the lines of what I say in a previous post, that of:…” Was supposed to read And my assertion was NOT “all youngsters are X” **but was** along the lines of what I say in a previous post, that of: ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247/140 "2004-02-01T21:24:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > See, where you’ve gone wrong is, a clever doper would never have written the OP, and people who write like the OP are never going to be popular. So you’re saying that not one single clever and/or popular doper dislikes jury duty and/or disagrees with the way the court systems handle it? This thread has made me think of a bunch of questions regarding jury duty. I’m genuinely curious, not being snotty. I was tempted to post a question/debate on this, but it didn’t seem of “heavy” enough importance for GD. IS it “unpatriotic” to disagree with jury duty and how it’s doled out? Is it being a brat to merely dislike it, and to gripe about it, as I’ve seen quite a few in this thread do?? Or is it just the OPs threats that make it so, and it’s okay to not like jury duty BTW, even while they were saying that they were proud to serve and didn’t mind, they were also listing the various ways in which it sucked and was inconveniencing them. Weren’t they being whiny too? For instance the ones who got up at O dark30, walked 20 miles, uphill (both ways), through waist deep snow, and were GLAD to do it (again, that despite the obvious and long list of ways in which it sucked and was inconvenient), weren’t THEY being whiny about it also, and isn’t THAT "wanting to shirk one’s duty (so to speak) and being unpatriotic and immature also? Another question re: jury duty. Do you all (the folks in this thread), think that the best jury of one’s peers is one that is made up of potentially resentful people? (of course not the whole jury, but do we REALLY think that every person on that jury is just thrilled to be there and is going to give it 100%??) Folks perhaps who, for instance, are not only not getting paid by their company to go to jury duty, but that may very well be facing that the more days they serve, the more late fees they will rack up on not being able to pay rent, car payments etc,. all the while still being expected to pay for travel to the court, daycare, lunches and so on. From what I’ve seen, such as the morons on the OJ trial, juries don’t seem to contain members with all that great intelligence or understanding of what they’re observing anyway. Do you all think that this somewhat “involuntary” system of making citizens serve is really serving the best interests of civic duty OR the defendants? Anyway, just a few questions/comments out of curiosity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-jury-duty/226247.md?page=8)