Jury Duty!

You can view the information available here in two ways.

!. You can use it to get out of jury duty.
or
2. You can use it to prepare yourself to be a conscientious citizen.

Being called to serve on a jury can fill one with dread at the possibility of serving for weeks on end for little compensation, much frustration, and even the possibility of being sequestered, cut off from friends and family.  Loss of income is another possible consequence.

For the conscientious citizen, being called to jury duty can be an opportunity to serve in one of the critical functions of the justice system.

Judges and prosecutors are essentially legal bureaucrats, they prefer juries to be compliant and not too knowledgeable.  Yet, the citizen juror is the highest rank in the courtroom.

It is not universally known that citizen juries are perhaps the most important check on the power of the state.

One of the factors that led to the end of chattel slavery in the US was the growing resistance of juries to convict those prosecuted under the fugitive slave acts.  There are numerous other examples in history of  juries, following the dictates of conscience, refusing to convict under the law as given.

When you, as a prospective juror, are questioned by a judge and prosecutor, you will be asked certain questions regarding your knowledge of jury power.  If you reveal that you have such knowledge, you will be dismissed.  Before proceeding, you should know this: there is no punishment for juries that refuse to convict, under the law as given, for reasons of conscience.

If you want to serve on a jury, that's all you need to know.  If you proceed further, you will find yourself in the possession of information that can lead to your dismissal from a jury pool.
 
 

Unless you lie about it, and you don't want to do that.

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JUROR'S HANDBOOK

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