Random Jury Duty Question :S

[chicagodisneyfan]

But if you seriously had *NO* childcare, what would happen? I wonder that myself, if I ever got called. I'd be up a creek without a paddle.

If I went and brought my child, I'd get "locked up'. If I left my 2 year old at home unattended, I'd get 'locked up' for negligence. I'd be a criminal either way.

How does one end up with no childcare? There are facilities here that are open 24 hours, there are websites such as care.com, facilities that will take drop ins for situations like this. What about the person you made the baby with? A neighbor, a friend, a church?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I guess you don't mess with Michigan judges. To find out what happened to an MI Mom, read this!

After reading that article, I find it an incredible abuse of authority. Especially when she wasn't notified of the time change the next day.

But I'm glad he got told to cease and desist his shenanigans:

Khury never served any jail time, but it was only after the state judicial officials faxed a letter to Bowman making it clear he didn't have authority to hold jurors. The State Court Administration Office ordered Bowman to stop doing so or he would face punishment himself.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Unless you are a single parent, how can you have no childcare for at least one day to report and explain The other parent would have to take the day off. Not ideal but it is what needs to be done.

I mean first I would fill out the form and try to get excused there but if not then I would have DH take the day off, if I could not find other help, and go and then say what a hardship it would be to sit on a jury bc of young children.

I have always been excused when I have filled out my form.

While employers have to excuse an employee when they are called for jury duty, I don't think there is a requirement that they get excused for their spouse or kid's mom gets called. So one of those--easier to suggest the remedy, but it still can cause hardship for people.


Also--I think different states are different. I recall someone saying in one state (not sure which) that either they are someone they know had a new born (as in less than 6 weeks, still in post partum recovery AND nursing)--and they could not be excused. To me--that is abuse of power as well.

 

[LisaR]

But if you seriously had *NO* childcare, what would happen? I wonder that myself, if I ever got called. I'd be up a creek without a paddle.

If I went and brought my child, I'd get "locked up'. If I left my 2 year old at home unattended, I'd get 'locked up' for negligence. I'd be a criminal either way.

Having lived in 2 states, multiple counties and summoned for jury duty every 18 months it seems, I have never been in a court system that doesn't allow a SAHM with a child under school age to not be dismissed.

 

[HelenePA]

How does one end up with no childcare? There are facilities here that are open 24 hours, there are websites such as care.com, facilities that will take drop ins for situations like this. What about the person you made the baby with? A neighbor, a friend, a church?

I'm guessing in most small towns there are no places like this.. I've never heard of a 24hour day care before. What if money is tight and you can't afford a place like this? I'm lucky I have my brother who works 3rd shift so hes home in the day.. he's usually sleeping but he'd stay awake if I needed him.

I dont know who posted about care.com but I had never heard of it so I went to check it out... holy cow some people in my area (very low cost of living area!) are asking $35an hour? an HOUR for a newborn? holy goodness! I'm guessing if you can afford 35$ an hour you dont need to work... holycow 35$ an hour! Yes I am stunned.

 

[bettymae1121]

In my county they send out a form prior to your being summoned to jury duty, they ask you questions like if you're the primary care giver for young children. they also ask you what months are better for you to be called in (say you have school age kids, you'd want to be called during the school year so child care isn't needed...or your a tax accountant and January thru April is impossible for you to serve). Once called if you make it to the court room to be questioned, one of the questions is "is there any reason why serving would be a hardship" and having child care issues, at least from what I saw, was enough to get you excused from being picked for the trial.

I think it really does matter what state and county you are in. Some are just going to be tougher than others. I do feel bad for the courts, they must have heard every excuse in the book at some point, and you do have to draw the line somewhere.

 

[linda0706]

While employers have to excuse an employee when they are called for jury duty, I don't think there is a requirement that they get excused for their spouse or kid's mom gets called. So one of those--easier to suggest the remedy, but it still can cause hardship for people.

This happened to me a couple months ago. I got called but my DD is school-age, so normally it wouldn't have been a problem. However Atlanta had a snowstorm (well...2 inches) Sunday night & school was cancelled. Therefore DH had to call in sick to stay home with her. What else are you going to do? Sometimes you just have to deal.

Funny, when the judge was making his opening remarks to the jury pool he said that he & his wife were scrambling for child-care at 9:00 Sunday night just like he assumed we all were.

(Normally I take DD to work with me on snow days.)

 

[locolala]

How does one end up with no childcare? There are facilities here that are open 24 hours, there are websites such as care.com, facilities that will take drop ins for situations like this. What about the person you made the baby with? A neighbor, a friend, a church?

If you have enough notice to run checks on someone, yeah then maybe a neighbor might work. Most of my friends live far away, as does my family. The curse of being a military wife. The child care centers have waiting lists 6-12 months long and don't have drop in spots available. As for my husband taking off work.. not so easy when the spouse is military. My husband has to ask months in advance to get time off work, and if he was deployed obviously it wouldn't be an option.

Now, I've been summoned for jury duty before. I went and told the lawyers/judge that I believe that if the police have enough evidence to get an arrest warrant, chances are very good you're guilty and therefore I believe the defendant is guilty. The defense didn't want me and I got to go home. My dad's the one who taught me that

 

[LisaR]

If you have enough notice to run checks on someone, yeah then maybe a neighbor might work. Most of my friends live far away, as does my family. The curse of being a military wife. The child care centers have waiting lists 6-12 months long and don't have drop in spots available. As for my husband taking off work.. not so easy when the spouse is military. My husband has to ask months in advance to get time off work, and if he was deployed obviously it wouldn't be an option.

Now, I've been summoned for jury duty before. I went and told the lawyers/judge that I believe that if the police have enough evidence to get an arrest warrant, chances are very good you're guilty and therefore I believe the defendant is guilty. The defense didn't want me and I got to go home. My dad's the one who taught me that :)

A guy tried this one of the times I served. The lawyers and judges aren't idiots. They get that you are simply trying to get out of serving. They listened to the guy say basically what you said. The judge pulled him out of the box and made him sit up in the front row of the regular seats. The guy was all pleased with himself. When the day was over, they still hadn't decided on a jury yet so we all needed to return the next day. The smug guy asked if he needed to return. He certainly did. They made him sit in that same seat for the next four days until a jury was decided. They never spoke to him again. He just had to sit there. He was so ticked. The rest of us found it hilarious.

Sorry, but I do not have sympathy for anyone that tries to get out of jury duty. There are certainly extenuating circumstances like a close relative on their death bed but aside from rare situations, your time and life isn't more valuable than mine. Everyone has something else they could be doing. I say suck it up.

 

[Feralpeg]

Now, I've been summoned for jury duty before. I went and told the lawyers/judge that I believe that if the police have enough evidence to get an arrest warrant, chances are very good you're guilty and therefore I believe the defendant is guilty. The defense didn't want me and I got to go home. My dad's the one who taught me that

That's a shame. You've missed out on a very interesting experience. I've served on multiple juries. They were always very interesting cases. I learned a great deal and was proud to be a part of the system.

 

[ckay87]

That's a shame. You've missed out on a very interesting experience. I've served on multiple juries. They were always very interesting cases. I learned a great deal and was proud to be a part of the system.

I agree. Apart from the issues that caregivers have, I don't get most people's animosity about the whole jury duty thing. I found the trial part of it interesting and even somewhat intellectually challenging.

 

[laurafergie]

Here in Virginia, I have only been summoned for Jury Duty twice and both times happened to be right around the due dates for DD10 and DD6 - I just answered the summons in writing that I was pregnant with my due date being XX and included my doctor's contact info and I never heard anything back.

My oldest son was summoned here in Portsmouth, but he is in college in Charleston, SC and he answered he was out of state in college and he was excused.

I think if you have a serious legitimate excuse, answer articulately in a proper letter there won't be a problem being excused.

 

[locolala]

Oh, the reason I couldn't serve on jury duty at that time was that I was in a very instensive class at university, there was no way I could miss a class. If I missed class I'd fall too far behind and likely not be able to catch up. My dad is unable to serve on jury duty because of his job, he works too closely with the court system and most defense lawyers don't want him because he knows too much about how the legal system works.

 

[rigs32]

My courthouse has a drop off day care onsite. It prevents both jurors and defendants from claiming no child care.

 

[Katie's Butterflies]

Oh, the reason I couldn't serve on jury duty at that time was that I was in a very instensive class at university, there was no way I could miss a class. If I missed class I'd fall too far behind and likely not be able to catch up. My dad is unable to serve on jury duty because of his job, he works too closely with the court system and most defense lawyers don't want him because he knows too much about how the legal system works.

You’re lucky! My sophomore year roommate was put into a murder trial and told that school was no excuse. She had to drop one of her classes. Luckily, the case ended unexpectedly (after 3 weeks) so she didn’t have to drop all of her classes ( because her teachers understood). One of the other members of the juror, who was in grad school, was not so lucky…

My courthouse has a drop off day care onsite. It prevents both jurors and defendants from claiming no child care.

Same here. If you have a child who is potty-trained (through age 12), you can drop him or her off at the child center for free. I don't know about those with children who are not yet potty-trained though.

 

[LoraJ]

I agree. Apart from the issues that caregivers have, I don't get most people's animosity about the whole jury duty thing. I found the trial part of it interesting and even somewhat intellectually challenging.

I don't get it either. I just got a summons in the mail today and it's for the two days after memorial day. I see it as an extended holiday. There probably won't be much going on that week, I'll sit there with my laptop or book and relax. If I get to serve, it will be an interesting experience. I served on a jury about 15 years ago and I would like to do that again.

 

[MickeyShow]

I was recently called for jury duty. I was able to make arrangements to have someone watch my 2.5 year old for the day but it was a scramble and pure luck that one of our babysitters had the day off from her day job. I was disappointed because I wanted to serve and wished I had more reliable care. I was questioned for a jury and it sounded like a very interesting case. I did tell the judge that I had no childcare but if they needed me to serve I would find some way to be there but he chose to excuse me anyways. I hope that when DS is in school I get the opportunity to actually serve. And it was a nice day "off" where I got to sit and read a book in peace.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Well, we moved to an area where we knew NO ONE when our oldest was a year old. I made it a point to seek out people with children the same ages so he would have someone to play with and so we could swap babysitting. You choosing NOT to find someone to care for your child is not the same thing as not having any childcare available. As for the drop in day care settings, find one you can use so you are comfortable with that. That is part of being a parent. What if an emergency arose and you HAD to find someone to watch your child, what would you do then???

Go to the library, join a MOPS group, sign up for preschool, go to the park, make some friends so you have someone you can trust.

I never did any of this the first 4 years of my kids lives when I was consumed with taking care of them, so I guess I must be a terrible mom?!

 

[Pinkpony]

The judge I work for always tells the jury pool the story of William Penn and the important role he played in establishing trials by "a jury of your peers." It's very moving and emphasizes the importance that jury trials play in our system of justice. He also mentions that, next to serving in the military, jury service is the most important duty you can serve for your country.

Needless to say, we RARELY have jurors try to get out of service after his address.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

My courthouse has a drop off day care onsite. It prevents both jurors and defendants from claiming no child care.

I wouldn't have any problem with this. I would not be leaving my children with a 24 hour care service that I didn't have any knowledge of. When DS12 was a baby I got notice of JD, and I called and was immediately excused. I got another one when DS10 was a baby, same thing. I have served JD before and found it interesting, I wasn't shurking my civil duty I was taking care of my kids when there was no one else. That would not have been a valid excuse for DH to stay home from work. I guess I was just lucky that my district was lenient.

In college I also had my Internal Auditing professor sign a letter for me that it was very detrimental for me to miss even one class period. I was dismissed then, too.