We, the (Jury) People

My principles and my selfishness are having a battle royale inside my brain pan this evening—tomorrow, I go into court for jury duty. I’ve checked in through a phone registration system for years, but this is the first time I’ve actually had to show up in person.

We Americans know that the jury system is one of those democratic foundations that makes the country possible. We know it’s our duty to serve. I think back on my immigrant great grandmother, who was legally blind, yet learned the required American history and constitutional principles to become an American citizen, and I know this is a drop in the bucket by comparison, to be part of a free and civil society.

But you know the flip side. I’m about to get up, drive into downtown, and declare my availability to have a powerful stranger called a judge, assign me to a group of other strangers called a jury, for an undetermined period, to consider who knows what.

Movies and television don’t help. We don’t see the inside of a jury room in a drama, unless the 12 are having a horrible time. Even in comedies, (I’m thinking television’s version of “The Odd Couple,” it’s funny to watch, but you wouldn’t want to be in that room.

I was even thinking about this in another way. You know the cliché about the jury being filled with people who couldn’t get out of jury duty? Well, what if we allowed our lowest income people to attend jury school, and serve as our jurors? I know, “professional juries” is the beginning of the end of democracy, or the midpoint… But here you could have people, generally ignored by society, suddenly placed in very powerful positions. We’d have to pay them of course. And then, we’d have to give them lots of security. And we’d have to make sure that a select few didn’t try to impose their will…okay, it’s a bad idea. Maybe just my late night subconscious trying to weasel out of this.
When I’m back, there’ll be more in this space. Assuming I’m not questioned as a prospective juror and accidentally say something so stupid and evil that they lock me up in an undisclosed…there’s that late night grey matter again…