Sunday, February 14, 2010

Jury Duty

Hi Humans,
I'm glad we dogs don't have to participate in jury duty, but if we did we would certainly organize it better than you guys do. You are so technically advanced. Why don't you use your technology? You disrupt a juror's work schedules by expecting him or her to hang around for a week waiting for your call. The juror then has to sit through the endless jury selection process. Then the juror might be chosen to be on a trial of any duration. It's as though the juror's time is of no value. No wonder people try to get out of it. Even we dogs consider our time of some value.
Let me make some suggestions even if it is presumptuous for a dog to do so.
1. Only the judge should be able to disqualify a juror and only for a good reason. This would result in a jury that actually represents a fair cross section of the population, not just those who were unable to get out of it. It would also eliminate jury selection gamesmanship by the lawyers.
2. The jurors should not be physically present at the trial. The trial should be recorded visually and auditorily. The jurors should brought to a session during which the judge would screen them to elminate any that the judge finds to be inappropriate. Then immediately after that, the 12 jurors would watch the video and then deliberate. The time in which the jurors are physically present should be no more than 2 days.
3. The result would be a more cost effective and timely trial system. This would also allow the juror to plan his or her time. By respecting the juror's time, you are more likely get a juror who is motivated to do a good job.
Anyway, that's what I think. but what do I know. I'm just a dog.
Chloe

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