Is it just bc you are unpaid for a while and away from family or is it the actual act itself thats upsetting?

Edit: wow such low pay? At least you arent away from family unless its a highly important case

37 comments

  1. It’s a disruption to your routine, you don’t know how long the court case will be, sometimes the subject matter is sad/disturbing, a lot of it is really boring legal talk…

    Personally, I’d like to do an actual jury duty at least once (big true crime nerd). So far when I’ve been called, I have to trek down to the courthouse and then they say they don’t need me.

  2. Usually it is because it is inconvenient – all activities really have to be cancelled. The pay for jury duty is minimal, so if you have a higher paying job but not a lot of paid time off, you’re losing a lot of money. You might have to be away from your family. If you work at a low paying job, it can be hard to get the time off, even though they are supposed to legally. You have to go to the courthouse, which depending on where you live, could be a huge pain in the ass. There’s just a lot of inconvenience for a lot of people without much benefit.

  3. Interestingly, the one time I did it, more potential jurors *wanted* to contribute and be part of the case than not. Of 40-50 potentials I only recall one guy who was like blatantly trying to get out of it.

    Personally I found the whole thing interesting and insightful.

    There are certainly downsides though.

    How things work with your paycheck will vary by employer, and at least in NC juror pay is $10 a day for the first day, then $20 a day the rest of the first week, then $40 a day from there out. You have no idea if your case is going to take 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months.

    Some of the process can be boring; sitting through very procedural testimony. Or some of the testimony can be really difficult to have to take in if it involves murder and other extreme violence, sexual assault, hurting children, etc.

    And it can be stressful. In my case the defendant was charged with two counts of first degree murder. Sentencing here is automatic if found guilty – life in prison without parole. So if you make the wrong conclusion at the end of it all, either (a) a murderer walks free or (b) an innocent person goes to prison for life. That’s a significant responsibility.

    As an aside, other than if you’re sequestered for a special case, you’re not necessarily away from family. It’s like going to a job, you come home at the end of the day.

    In any event I appreciated the opportunity to do the case that I did, learned a lot in the process, and am proud that we made the right choice in the end.

  4. It’s long and can be brutal. Typically you aren’t sequestered so you aren’t away from your family, sequestered juries are rare. But you are hearing days on days of testimony about often-traumatic events

  6. I think the dislike for jury duty comes from a combination of factors. One issue is that it’s often seen as an inconvenience because it can interfere with work, family, and other personal obligations. Many people might have to take unpaid time off work, or if they get paid, it’s usually less than their regular wages. This can be especially tough for those living paycheck to paycheck or with tight finances.

    In addition to financial concerns, some people may find the actual process of jury duty to be boring, tedious, or even stressful. Sitting in the courtroom for long hours and listening to legal proceedings can be draining both mentally and physically. It can also be a bit nerve-wracking having to make important decisions about someone else’s life or future.

    Lastly, people may feel a lack of personal connection or interest in the case they’re working on. This might make it hard for them to stay engaged and motivated throughout the process. Overall, I think it’s the combination of all these factors that contributes to the general dislike for jury duty.

  8. It can be inconvenient. For some people more than others.

    I’ve enjoyed the experience the times I’ve done it, but I’m weird like that.

  9. I got called up and selected for jury duty when I was fresh out of college and it was in the thick of the 2008 recession. I was working an hourly job and living paycheck to paycheck. I had to miss work because some dude kicked in the door to his ex baby mama apartment.

  11. If you have no commitments and have a job that gives you time off its a fun and interesting experience.

    If you have other responsibilities or hard deadlines at work or both its a complete nightmare.

    Real example: the courthouse is at the county seat. This is 30 min away without traffic. Of course court is open during business hours so you’re driving for 60 minutes in traffic. Enjoy your new commute! Hope you didn’t have anything important to do during that time, like drop your kids off at school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.

    Assuming your job will pay you during jury duty (this is never certain, the legal requirement is unpaid time off — hope you weren’t counting on getting paid that week… or longer), you still have work responsibilities. Have a hard deadline at work that can’t be moved? The work still has to get done, but now at night.

    Hope you can see how this would make some people very resentful of jury duty.

  12. I have to work and a lot of my work is time sensitive. Even going to jury selection to maybe not be picked is a huge inconvenience.

  13. It was a waste of my time, i did not want to be there. I would have rather been at work.

  14. The pay for me just isn’t remotely comparable to what I make on my job. I think it’s only 40 bucks per day in NYS.

    I used to get paid more to take a covid test then go home. I still make more money trying on clothes for a fitting than I would sitting down for Jury Duty

  15. I was on a jury, maybe for a week or two, a while ago. I had a good employer, who paid me anyway, but some people don’t get paid, just a small jury service stipend. The work itself was interesting, but the case itself was emotionally draining. Bad things happening to people, and bad people involved, to put it simply.

    It wasn’t like TV or the movies by the way… There was a lot of hanging around, the lawyers and judge would be doing their thing, then the jury would be brought in to hear from witnesses, and a couple of times, somebody asked or said the wrong thing, and the jury would be brought out again. The lawyers didn’t screw with the judge, there was no bickering or arguing, etc.

  16. Because you get paid so little and it’s really boring. Most times. Sometimes the case is fairly interesting. The last two times I got disqualified but I wanted to do it because I hated my job and would rather go into a courtroom than that, and the cases actually sounded interesting.

    The first times I got called it was super inconvenient. I worked a night job and to go to court I’d have to wake up 5 hours earlier than I usually do so I really didn’t want to do it. I did get disqualified though.

    All 3 or 4 times they asked me have you ever been a victim of a crime, and of course I have, I think almost everyone has even in the smallest degree. I also don’t want to lie. Car broken into, minor hit and run, tv got stolen, all things have happened. Disqualified. How do juries get made up in the first place, I mean everyone has had something happen at least once.

  18. For most people the biggest reason for not wanting to do it is that most employers don’t pay you if you’re on jury duty, and jury duty pay is minimal. So unless you’re retired, unemployed, or lucky enough to work a job that pays you for time off for jury duty, you’re losing money.

  19. If I ever got called for jury duty I’d absolutely do or say something to disqualify me from being selected because fuck that

  20. You actually do get paid for the jury duty itself, tho it won’t be the same as your job. Personally I found it fascinating. But admittedly it was just after college and I was unemployed. I think people just don’t like the inconvenience. Not a super compelling excuse, but then most people in the country don’t vote either. Civic duty might not be our national strong suit.

  21. I’ve been called several times but never actually got selected. They “pay” you like $25 for the day or something laugable.

    It’s not *that* bad but it interrupts your week and it is excruciatingly boring. I show up to the courthouse early in the morning, sit in a room with a bunch of other people, and just wait for hours and hours until they either call you into another room or let you go home.

  25. Pay is generally not good, locations are VERY inconvenient and /parking/ can be more than the pay, going through security much like the TSA, and the general waiting around, plus it’s somewhat common to not be allowed your personal electronics.

  26. Imagine getting a letter telling you that in a couple of weeks you have to call on Sunday to find out if you have to show up somewhere Monday. Then if you do have to show up you’ll likely spend the morning sitting around doing nothing. There’s a good chance you’ll then get told to leave. If you did get selected theres a good chance you’ll sit around some more before they decide not to proceed and you’ll get told to leave. Then maybe you’ll actually have to serve on what will likely be a drawn out boring process.

    Sound fun?

  27. Don’t know, I never understood it either. My brother got to serve on a jury for a murder trial a few years back, he said it was really interesting.

  28. It’s just really boring. In my experience, I sat in a room with a lot of people for several days doing nothing. Then when I got called up for a trial, I went through the trial and learned right before deliberations that I was an alternate, so I went through the entire process and didn’t even get to discuss the trial with other jury members.

  29. I’m a college professor. I have the kind of job that doesn’t get done if I’m not there. The work doesn’t go away and no one else will do it. If I get on a jury, that’s 9 hours of my day. Then I have to go home and still do all of my regular work. If it’s during classes, I have to prepare all online materials for students ahead of the missed class day, grade all of the work they submit, and spend 3-4 hours on email after being in a jury. My school won’t extend the semester and no one else will cover my classes.

  30. My ex sat on a jury for a 12 week trial. He got $40/day. It cost us thousands of dollars that we didn’t have to spare. We had a young baby. It was bullshit.

    Oh, and after a few weeks they stopped providing meals. It was getting too expensive…

    I sat on a jury for a short trial of a person who was guilty as sin. The prosecutor did an extremely lazy job proving their case. We found him not guilty of all but one charge. It was a giant waste of time.

  31. Every time I’ve done it they’ve packed me into a room with shoulder to shoulder seating with a bunch of other people coughing or reeking of BO and they don’t really give you a good idea of how long you’ll be there.

    Meanwhile you’re getting behind on work at your job and will have to play catch-up while the rest of your routine hangs on to the slight chance they’ll actually need a jury for any of the cases that come through that day.

    TDLR – It’s like being put on a full airplane with no idea where you’re going and there’s no wifi so you can’t get any work done.

  32. Its the endless waiting. Most of jury duty is sitting around in case you might get called in for a panel and than MIGHT sit on a jury. A person might report to jury duty with 300+ cases on the docket at the beginning of the day and not a single panel gets called. I sat on a jury once and i found it quite interesting.

  34. As someone called every year, let me list the reasons. For me they are:

    ​

    * They call me every year and have done so for the last thirty years. Meanwhile I’ve met countless people that have never served. They obviously have a fucked up database system but have no interest in making it equitable. I now always delay by as long as is allowed to at least drop the number of times I serve
    * The compensation given isn’t even enough to cover a fast food lunch and they charge you for parking in their own lot. Serving is effectively a tax and because I’m an hour from the nearest courthouse the time and expense isn’t small.
    * The courts truly don’t give a shit about jurors and juror’s time and life. You’re a commodity to be traded and mistreated because you don’t have a choice. There’s some mouthing of appreciation but the actions don’t represent that. And god help you if you push back.
    * The courts move glacially and as a juror there’s a lot of time just waiting. Going to lunch an hour and then being told to go out for another hour because they’re not ready yet. Spending two hours in downtown Oakland is not my idea of a good time.
    * Too many cases are some leeches of lawyers suing in a legal version of an assembly line. The last case I was on the jury for was a mesothelioma suit brought against the big three automakers by the family of a woman whose cousins once changed their brakes at her house. The plaintiff lawyers were bottom feeders.

  36. I would not be able to handle it emotionally bc of my anxiety and autism

  37. In addition to disruption and low pay, I’ll add that it’s emotionally intense, or was for me.

    I almost always get picked. Lawyer and judge friends have told me I’m the sort of person neither side sees as threatening. I’m a middle-aged, middle-class, Midwestern white woman and pretty middle of the road politically.

    I’ve been on assault cases, mostly. It’s disturbing to listen, sometimes watch, as people describe and analyze a horrific situation over and over.

    It’s also daunting to know that your decision will impact a lot of lives, but cannot reverse whatever has happened.

    Real justice is a fallacy to me, for both sides of every case.

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