The problem is that in the past, jury service was almost always a hardship on the person called and it still is, in general, a PITA.
The hardship element has been greatly reduced by laws requiring employers to pay the difference in wages between jury-duty pay and what you normally receive from your job. It also helps that many states have gone to a "one-day, one-trial" system, where if you are not empaneled on a jury your first day, your service is done. In many states you had to show up every day for a week. (NJ IIRC was two weeks.) Jury sequestration has also largely been done away with, except for trials that receive a lot of media attention.
In many places, jury service itself is an experience in dealing with Soviet-style bureaucracy. It's like spending all day at the RMV. Not a pleasant experience.
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Date: 2006-10-17 03:20 pm (UTC)The hardship element has been greatly reduced by laws requiring employers to pay the difference in wages between jury-duty pay and what you normally receive from your job. It also helps that many states have gone to a "one-day, one-trial" system, where if you are not empaneled on a jury your first day, your service is done. In many states you had to show up every day for a week. (NJ IIRC was two weeks.) Jury sequestration has also largely been done away with, except for trials that receive a lot of media attention.
In many places, jury service itself is an experience in dealing with Soviet-style bureaucracy. It's like spending all day at the RMV. Not a pleasant experience.