Jury duty? Just shoot me

If this system is so darned important, jurors should be compensated properly and be shown other forms of appreciation.

By James Dalziel –

Maybe it sounds naïve, but I used to think being called up for jury duty was kind of an honour. Hey, it’s an opportunity to serve your community and the justice system.

Several years ago I sat on a jury-type “public institutions inspection panel” that got to drop in on places like the Don Jail and retirement homes – unannounced – and had amazingly free rein to check into how those places are run.

That was a worthwhile three-week effort that indicated, reassuringly, that those institutions were generally well run, without widespread abuse or waste. We told a judge exactly that in a detailed written report.

Sadly, my recent summons to show up for jury service at the provincial courthouse on University Avenue wasn’t nearly so beneficial to society or myself.

The experience was eye-opening in a very different way, as I sat around in a huge room with about 300 people for about four days – and didn’t get to hear a single case.

Quick at first

Starting on a Monday, things moved quickly enough at first. I was among the first half-dozen to get a chance to sit on a jury panel after names were drawn from a spinning drum.

But the defence lawyer in a cocaine-trafficking case declared “Challenge” and the Superior Court judge automatically sent me back into the big jury pool for future consideration.

One interesting wrinkle in my tryout was the initial selection of two jurors as “triers” – a concept I had never even heard of, though I’m told it has been around for years.

The triers first had a chance to give thumbs up or thumbs down, individually, on whether I and the others should sit on the jury panel. Not knowing me from Adam, they kindly gave me a free pass.

I was only asked whether I could treat the accused fairly, in consideration of his skin colour. I said something like, “Yes, I think so.”

The defence lawyer may have thought that was a lame answer. Or he didn’t like my looks. Or … who really knows? No reasons are required or given.

Now who’s prejudiced?

I suspect the lawyer and his client had a general idea of what sort of person they wanted on the jury from among the 20 initial prospects. Maybe it was even racial prejudice on their part. But I can only speculate.

Back in the pool, we had plenty of time to chat, read or stare at the wall.

I talked to one man who was accepted by the defence but rejected by his triers! Of course, his mind was racing, trying to figure out what the triers’ problem with him was.

Tuesday was a full day of reading books, old magazines and newspapers in the huge room. One group of about 70 potential jurors went through the hoops for another trial, and the rejectees dribbled back to the pool.

Wednesday and Thursday turned out to be half-day waiting sessions for everyone – again, just reading and chatting, some card-playing.

No TV, no free coffee or snacks for us 300 Spartans. No free lunch.

I began to think some prisoners were getting better treatment than we were.

Zero compensation

About a third of the jury pool had access to tables and carrels for their laptop computers. So they didn’t waste as much time as the rest of us.

Compensation? On a panel or not, jurors get nil for two weeks – not even bus fare. If you’re on a jury for 11 days, you start to receive all of $40 a day.

Someone has asked me if there are jury dodgers. Some of the courthouse staff people were like drill sergeants and they let us know early that failure to appear each day would result in an arrest warrant. Charming.

Still, they did seem open to hearing about severe hardship cases that would let some jurors defer service for a few months.

I really feel for those people who lost a lot of income during the week and had their private lives thrown out of whack. If the jury system is truly valued, I say we need to treat jury conscripts much better and more efficiently.

As it is now, it’s like having your name picked in a perverse kind of lottery. You lose!

Where’s the justice in that? If this system is so darned important, jurors should be compensated properly and be shown other forms of appreciation.