Jury Duty
Last week, I went to jury duty for the first time in my life. My summons required me to show up at 8:15 AM, and join about 200-300 other people in a large room with auditorium-style chairs and small attached desks. After waiting a couple of hours (during which there was lots of cake and constant communication about the wait time--two things I'd never expect after a lifetime of riding SEPTA), I joined 40 other prospective jurors in a courtroom at the criminal justice center.
Each of us prospective jurors answered a written questionnaire while we were in the waiting room (questions like "are you more or less likely to believe the testimony of a police officer," or "have you ever been the victim of a crime"). In the courtroom, the judge actually went around to each juror, and asked each person to explain some of their answers.
The responses my fellow citizens gave to the judge were fascinating.
I always like environments that are exclusively Philadelphian. I mean, minus the few suburban-living city employees Seth may have missed while he was at the OIG, you pretty much have to live somewhere in the city to be at jury duty. Despite the fact that this city often feels very small, when you are in a room with that many other Philadelphians you don't know, you can't help but be reminded that it is in fact a very big city, with a lot of different kinds of people.
Yet in the courtroom, despite the neighborhood, race, gender, and class diversity of my fellow jurors, we all had something in common: every single person reported that they, or a family member, had been the victim of a crime (from burglary to rape to assault). And about half of the prospective jurors had a family member who had been convicted of a crime (from drug sales to murder, and again, to assault).
This is hardly shocking news, however, I thought it was worth repeating the idea that crime and violence in our city, while nothing new, is a problem that we all share.
And leaving aside the rhetoric and politicization of this issue, I wonder if my fellow Philadelphians have confidence that we're individually and governmentally doing our parts to get down to the roots of crime and violence in our city, and formulating responses that will make a real difference. For real.
Posted in another thread
but tangentially related. Community policing and smart youth intervention shows once again that it actually works better in SW Philly this article shows.
-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.
weird
I had a different experience when I went. I had all these people in the room and most of them reported that they had never known anyone who had committed a crime or who had been convicted of a felony.
I found this so bizarre, because my little middle class, southeast kansan upbringing enabled me to rattle off a small handful of people who'd committed some pretty high ranking crimes. The room didn't seem to have a lot of Center City types in it, either.
It made me feel like people weren't really thinking about it or weren't being honest for some reason. Anyway, I found it surreal but in just the opposite way.
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This Too Will Pass, for the guts in your cerebrum.
My own jury experiences
My own jury experiences pretty much mirror Ray on the "have you ever been a victim of crime" question - unanimous. Similar high numbers on have you ever been arrested. The thing is they were civil cases and basically most of the questions were on other issues about liablility and I innevitably get selected off the jury for being too opinionated one way or the other. Its happened like 3 times. I am beginning to think I simply can't get picked to serve on a civil jury.
-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.
As an attorney, I dread
As an attorney, I dread everytime I get called for jury duty. I know that I would never be chosen, so I end up wasting a day that could have been productive.
I remember spending a whole day trying to get out of jury duty. Then, the judge asked the magic question: "Do any of you know anyone in the courtroom?"
I said "Yes. I know the D.A., the Public Defender, and I have a jury trial in front of you in 3 weeks, Judge. Can I leave now?" Of course, everyone in the courtroom burst out in laugther.
Try this
Tell them your occupation is "political organizer" and then accidentally (I swear to God) check the box that says you have a mental disability that would prevent you from serving. I was booted out of there so fast...
But beyond the experience of jury duty, I think it's interesting how real and concrete violence and crime could be to a lot of Philadelphians and how little concretely the (white, middle-class) progressive "movement" has done to come up with concrete policy solutions or grassroots organizing activities. And even beyond that narrow grouping, Men United for Change and Mothers in Charge have helped some, but there's not been an organized, wide-scale response organized to get the city to really do something about reducing violence (from funding more cops, to electing Seth DA, to expanded afterschool options, to more jobs).