Secret Confessions of an Enthusiastic Juror

Jury Duty. I'll admit it; I like it. I look forward to it. Honestly, it is one of the highlights of my year. I know that's a bit weird (although being weird is pretty normal for me), because the majority of adults dread Jury Duty. I, however, enjoy it. The way it is set up in my county (in the beautiful state of California), makes it a pleasure, not a curse. At least, it does for me.

Now, I am aware that there are (many) less juror friendly states, and possibly even other counties within my state, where Jury Duty is not a pleasure to serve. Places where Jury Duty really is a highly inconvenient (at best) experience. My MIL, for example, lives in Missouri, where jurors are "On Call" for Jury Service for a year at a time. For any jury trials that come up in her county during that year, she is called in and interviewed for the jury, and she ended up serving on multiple juries in a single twelve-month period during her most recent Jury Duty installment. I can see how that would be a major inconvenience to the continuity of work or school, or for an at-home parent who has to arrange child care for every trial instance during which they need to be away. However, Jury Duty is much simpler where I live, and that is a major part of the reason I enjoy it.

Jury Service in California lasts one day, or one trial. That's it. You show up, spend the day in the Prospective Juror Waiting Room--which is equipped with free wi-fi, an adjacent TV room, a Juror business center (private work cubicles, data ports, fax machines, and the like), big, comfy leather chairs, an adjacent cafeteria with an in-house coffee shop, a variety of tables and chairs available for working on whatever you have brought with you, and occasionally you get called for a Panel.

Now, when a panel of prospective jurors is called into a courtroom to be interviewed for assignment to a trial, it is fairly likely that that case will proceed to trial. However, nearly 8 out of 10 cases are resolved without having to go to trial, simply because we, the prospective jurors, are IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE to be called onto a panel. The mere threat of actually going to jury trial is enough to inspire the conflicting parties (in a civil case) or prosecution and defense (in a criminal case), in many instances, to come to a resolution without actually going to trial. Which saves time, money and resources for everyone involved. And what do I have to do to help effect these timely and effective resolutions? Take a day out of my life to sit and read all day? Or work on a project or other task I need to do anyway? Oh, and did I mention that KIDS AREN'T ALLOWED? Which, of course, means that whatever I choose to work on while I am here, I will be UNINTERRUPTED BY MY CHILDREN…

I guess I should re-cap about now: I spend a day reading, writing, or working on a project in the Jury Waiting Room, guaranteed to be uninterrupted by my kids while doing so, and my mere presence helps resolve around eight of ten court cases before they even go to trial? Yeah, I will unabashedly admit it, I DO like Jury Duty. Truth be told, I kind of love it.

Of course, it's not all uninterrupted ‘Me Time;’ there have been times when I have been called to a panel, and I do have to pack up my reading or other project to go to a courtroom and be questioned for possible placement on a jury, but, after all, that's what I'm here to do. Eight out ten cases resolved without going to trial does leave a couple of cases that will go to trial out of every batch. And I could get bugged that I have to interrupt my reading to go DO THE JOB I WAS CALLED HERE TO DO, but, for me anyway, that would be ludicrous. Heading into the courtroom to be questioned for placement on a panel occasionally is a small price to pay for an uninterrupted eight hours of ‘Me Time’ once a year!