Jury Duty

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I was called up once but Aspies don't count as being 'of sound mind' so I never even had to come in. Which was good, since I had classes.

I got called for jury duty last month. I showed up in a costume and sat in the jury room until they called me into court. The judge asked me to remove the costume and I said it was for religious purposes. When the judge dismissed everyone for lunch she told me to go home. The next week they called me in again and I wore another costume (this time as a demonic butterfly police clown). They told me to go home again. I don't think I will ever be asked to return.

Here is a pic of what I wore the first time. Http://tinypic.com/r/5fkb37/5
And here's one from the second time. http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=a45xe1&s=5
enjoy.

I've never been called up for jury duty, which is just as well as I'm not a citizen and couldn't do it anyway. It's sort of a pity though, I think it would be really interesting to see. Regarding whether or not aspies would make better jurors than NT's, I'd have to say that as a whole, given our typically heightened objectivity, that we would. We would be less concerned with the emotional aspects of the trial and more able to focus on the relevant facts.

I ignore jury summonses, because thats the way I roll.

If they want to push it, then they will get a letter from my psychiatrist telling them why it would not be a good idea for me to serve.

I got the duty a couple of years ago. I showed up to a waiting room with about 120 people in it, we all signed in and waited. After a bit half of us went to one court room, and the other half another. Turns out the other group was for a murder. I sat with 60 people as the lawyers asked us questions to see if we fit during voir dire. I was selected as juror number 3 of 7 (7 was the alternate). The trial lasted 5 days and deliberation lasted 9 hours on a Friday, that was the tough part. It was a medical malpractice suit against a hospital, we found for the hospital. They bought us lunch every day from a Greek joint, it was fun. Also got a surprise check in the mail a week later. It was fun, but I don't think I would want to do it now again.

Oddly enough, my mom and I were talking about this recently. (seeing something on the news about the jurors in the George Zimmerman trial) I asked if Asperger's was a reasonable excuse from jury duty and she said probably not, but Autism was (I think because of the updated DSM and Asperger's not "existing" anymore so it's not longer valid)

I'm actually quite fearful of jury duty. Not only do I have to work with people but I'm so afraid of not doing my job right...what if I miss key information in charging the person??? (I also have ADD)

Is ADD a valid excuse? I don't think a jury would want somebody on their panel that cannot fully focus on doing their job.

I would not be good at jury duty. I don't always think like other people and I'd probably either end up disagreeing with everyone else and refuse to change my mind or I'd just say whatever I had to whether I believed it or not to get it over with faster.

Every time I register to vote I get multiple summons to jury duty. I blame my last name although I don't really know why it happens. It makes me not want to register to vote.

I've never served on a jury although I've come close.

I was called many times but only served in a jury once--a very dispiriting experience.

I tend to assume that many people are quite intelligent and many people can think somewhat rationally. The jury I served on disillusioned me.

one third, including me, seemed capable of more or less rational discourse. One third had a great deal of trouble thinking through a coherent argument or keeping focused on anything in particular and one third seemed to have severely limited intelligence and should not have been serving.

About 8 of them routinely ignored the judge's instructions. Several of them continuously raised alternative theories based on no evidence and no issue introduced by the prosecution or the defense--they constructed elaborate and fanciful explanations of the evidence that was introduced. For example, the theory was proposed that the accused might have been abducted from the initial crime scene by a government agency and/or extra-terrestrial entities and then placed by those malevolent conspirators in one of the later crime scenes after unknown actors perpetrated the known crimes using the vehicle the accused had stolen.... It was crazy and frightening. The idea that one might be wrongly accused and then tried by people like that is chilling.

I had a sense of civic duty and wore a suit to the court to show respect. That may have been why they made me foreman. I have to say that I lost most of that respect as we ground through the long, painful, often bizarre deliberation process. Next time I will not be so demonstrably respectful, if there is a next time.

@Schizpergers: those costumes were great. That first one reminded me of a Gremlin dressed as an aviator.

@Adamantium: that is frightening. I study and teach criminal justice, and one of the biggest problems in the system (IMO) is that many people who are called for jury duty probably have no clue what they're supposed to be doing. How clear are the judge's instructions to a layperson? Should they be expected to know more about the law, the system, etc.?

It is important to be tried by a "jury of one's peers" for the sake of fairness, I think, but the problem with that is that one's "peers" probably don't really know much about how to make proper judgments according to the law...the system really needs help.