Y’all have heard about press gangs in centuries past which roved city streets to seize people to serve in the navy?
Well the tradition is alive and kicking for jury duty. A judge in New Brunswick, Canada, has started seizing Christmas shoppers.
Makes me ashamed for the legal system.
When I was on jury duty in LA a couple of months ago, I saw a newspaper article on this very subject taped to the receptionist’s window. Only it was from the midwest U.S. several years ago. It said the practice was rare, but did happen in small communities.
Oh, yeah, jury duty is just the same as being shanghaied into years of harsh naval service under the lash. :rolleyes:
Maybe if we didn’t have frikkin’ threads every month or so like clockwork where someone is asking HOW THEY CAN GET OUT OF JURY DUTY there would be enough people in the normal jury pool – who are just as much FORCED to be there as these people taken in while shopping – that they wouldn’t have to resort to what is admittedly an unusual tactic that inconveniences people.
Being snatched is not simply an inconvenience. The problem is that people were snatched rather than given reasonable notice. Moncton is a sizable place, so there is no problem with a shortage of potential jurors, just a problem of timing.
The Court has the ability to reasonably predict how many jurors it will require, for civil jury notices and criminal elections come early on in matters. If the court messes up in not watching these notices and elections as closely as it should, then it should find a solution which is not so draconian, such as notification by courier.
As far as dodging jury duty goes, the snatching will not reduce it one whit, for the potential jurors will still have the same opportunity to be excused. I wouldn’t be surprised if some folks would be so pissed off at being snatched that they would make considerable efforts toward being excused.
Ultimately, I am concerned that such behaviour by the Court will harm the administration of justice, for the Court is primarily involved in determining what is reasonable – that’s what judges do – yet snatching is inherently unreasonable. Since the Court is behaving unreasonably and with disreguard to the citizenry, then why should it be trusted to make reasonable decisions in other matters, and why should the citizenry respect it? For the legal system to work, there must be respect on all sides.