Oh great. Jury Service. Brilliant. Not.

[GrumbleDook]

I'm with Steve to say that it is an important duty.

 

Also remember that laws are applied based on case law, so you are helping to form decisions about how laws are enforced in this country. If you are not into politics or protesting then this is a way that you could have an effect.

[PiqueABoo]

I got a serious violence case one week, and for the next week a paedophile case with plot twists and drama you definitely wouldn't believe. Everyone found the latter a bit umm.. traumatic. Still not all experiences worth having are necessarily enjoyable and I'm glad I didn't wriggle out of that.

[elsiegee40]

My Mum got the coroner's court for her jury service... not a pleasant experience.

[Little-Miss]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGsnjUCAVg4]YouTube - family guy-jury duty[/ame]

[SteveBentley]

I got the letter while I was a student. A letter from my tutor explaining that missing that amount of time from Uni would be detrimental to my studies was enough to get me excused.

[localzuk]

I just read a site explaining that sometimes, cases can go on for months... One example they gave was the Jubilee fraud case, which was 2 years long...

 

Can you imagine doing jury service for 2 years? Imagine the damage to your career!

[stu]

Id like to do jury duty im proper nosey, plus would be interesting to see how it all worked

[_Bat_]

Add to that those who feel sorry for the poor person in the dock and you can get a weird old brew :-)

 

That would be me. I find I tend to give most people the benefit of the doubt even when I really shouldn't, hence why I wouldn't want to do it as it'd cause arguments.

Edited April 29, 2009 by _Bat_

[powdarrmonkey]

I just read a site explaining that sometimes, cases can go on for months... One example they gave was the Jubilee fraud case, which was 2 years long...

 

Can you imagine doing jury service for 2 years? Imagine the damage to your career!

 

They're rare, and as you spend more time on the case your remuneration increases accordingly.

[tomscaper]

When i did jury service, i spend most of it playing and completing half life 2, i wasn't called even once, was a nice week off. Definately take something to read as it is totally boring sat in that room all day long. They give you an allowance for food each day, which if you don't spend they give you in a cheque. So i took my own lunch and made some money from it.

[the_one_that_cant]

I got called up in May 2008, however a week after recieving the summons, I got a phonecall saying that they had called up too many people, and would I like to defer my time, so I agreed to Nov 2008.

I got called up to two cases, but never made it to verdict, as one of the cases the defendant pleaded guilty and the other case, one of the jurors realised halfway through the case that he knew of the reputation of the defendant by 'nickname' and that had us all thrown out.

 

Spent two weeks near enough playing Champ Man 01/02. It was sweet.

 

Bacon bun and a cup of coffee every morning at no cost, life was bliss.

 

However 2 days I wasn't needed in, so I had to go to work. My office was literaly 30 seconds from the courts

[tech_guy]

Well both my GP and my audiologist have written to them explaining my auditory condition so we'll see what happens. I'd love to do jury service but there wouldn't be much point if I couldn't process much of what was said. I rely on lip reading for processing 60 - 70% of what I hear spoken so I could end up missing a vital point in an argument.

 

And no, I'm not deaf so please don't suggest I take an ear trumpet along with me!

 

I have [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder]APD[/ame]

Edited May 5, 2009 by tech_guy

[powdarrmonkey]

And no, I'm not deaf so please don't suggest I take an ear trumpet along with me!

 

I think you should anyway just for the comedy benefit.

 

"No, you can't take it away from me, that contravenes the DDA."

[enjay]

I found it to be an interesting insight into how the legal system works, and I'm glad I did it (even though I spent a lot of time getting paid to read a book and play on the wife's new DS!). I didn't get a "nasty" case though, so maybe my view would be different if I had.

 

As others have said, your employer is not required to pay you, and the court does not reimburse your full salary (£30/day or something like that). You employer may choose to pay you in full, at which point you don't claim, or to pay you your normal salary minus the £30/day. Take your own lunch with you, and pocket the £5/day food allowance from the court, and you'll make a bit of money out of the proceedings!