My Civic Obligation
It’s been a busy 48 hours. On Tuesday, I had my first dental cleaning in nearly a year (I had to cancel my scheduled one at the end of last year because of my trip to Japan). Despite that fact that the new dental hygienist was a bit sadistic with the scraper, I came out with no cavities.
Then yesterday I had jury duty….for the fifth time in my life. Five times! I must admit this ROYALLY pisses me off since I know people my age who have never had it. Hell, my mother didn’t have her first jury duty until she was 70 years old. Yet I can’t go three years without getting it. In fact, my name is so popular in their computer system for some reason that I’ve been assigned jury duty two additional times but was disqualified since I had served within the previous three years.
So, let’s count them….7 times in 17 years. That means I get called every 2.4 years, on average. This just doesn’t seem fair to me.
Anyway, here are the things I hate about jury duty in Boston.
- I live just a few blocks from two courthouses. So which court did I get assigned to? The one that’s over 30 minutes away in freaking Jamaica Plain, of course - practically the entire other side of the city.
- When I got off the subway at Forest Hills (the very last stop) there were signs leading me to the courthouse. But once I got to the street, the last sign had bumper stickers all over the arrow indicating the direction of the courthouse. I took a guess…and I was wrong and ended up going a block in the wrong direction. Yesterday morning was 5 degrees with a wind chill below zero. Did I mention that the other courthouses were just a few blocks my house?
- I arrived prompty at 8AM (as was indicated on my summons) to find the courthouse locked and secure. The sign on the main door said “Court hours, 8:30 to 4:30″. Then why the hell have us come at 8:00AM? There was another side door that said jurors should appear at 8:00. Why not just say the building opens at 8:00AM then?
- The informational video they show jurors was produced in the 80’s or 90’s. Video…not DVD…video. And this video has evidently been playing for years because the visual and sound quality were very deteriorated. I mean, I know the court system isn’t overflowing with money….but it’s pretty cheap to burn DVD’s nowadays. They might want to consider it.
- The waiting. As I said, I’ve been on jury duty 5 times (and picked to a trial once). NEVER have they brought the jurors into a courtroom for impanelment before 11AM. Since that’s the case, why do they make us show up at such an ungodly hour of the day? Why not have us arrive at 9AM or 10AM? People’s biggest complain is the waiting…so why not make it so we wait less? A comfortable chair or two wouldn’t hurt, either.
- Finally – and this is my biggest wish…continue the process of making people eligible for jury duty every three years. That seems fair. However, if somebody has actually been a juror on an actual trial, take them off the list. They’ve done their civic duty. It’s no fair that the same people (ME) keep getting called back.
That said, I didn’t get picked for a trial yesterday. I came close, though. They stopped placing people in the jury stand (for a DUI case) at juror number 23. I was juror number 24.
Anyway, enough about that (I’m becoming such a misanthrope). I had a nice night with Randy and life is back to normal. Oh, and going back to my last blog posting about how I find San Francisco ugly – here are some photos of Randy’s trip last week that show what I’m talking about. I just don’t find it pretty. There are pretty things in San Francisco (city hall, Golden Gate Park, the painted ladies of Pacific Heights, Land’s End) but overall I have trouble finding any cohesive beauty or charm. Notice the telephone/bus wires in the first and last photos? Notice the sea of white buildings?
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Karl–I’m an old hand at this. After you serve, you’re supposed to get a certificate in the mail saying you’ve served and are not to be called again for three years. If your service averages every 2.4 years, it means you’ve been called too often. if that happens you can call, quote your record and have them defer service to the proper time.
You also have the option of serving at any other courthouse you choose. I did this a couple of times after being called to the big court opposite Government Center. It’s a positive hole–unventilated, you have to wait around standing in halls a lot, and the facilities look and feel like mid-19th century. I got changed to a court in a nice section of Dorchester in a modern building with parking and a really friendly staff.
Of course, always bring a Russian novel, sudoku or some work to do because mostly you’ll be waiting a lot as you know. But you do have options and you should exercise them for your own comfort and convenience.
Oh, I’ve used those certificates to prove I’m not required to serve (those were those two extra times when I got out of jury duty). The remaining 5 times all happened after three years (some within WEEKS of my becoming eligible again).
As for re-assigning locations, I’ve done that, too. I’ve been assigned to the West Roxbury Court twice before and managed to relocate it to the one in Government Center (which is more convenient for me). This time, no such luck.