Jury Duty (2 Viewers)

[Demandred]

If you own a small business, is it a valid reason to be exempted?

 

[melsc]

If you own a small business, is it a valid reason to be exempted?

Nope, my parents own a childcare centre and by law they have to maintain a child staff ratio, my mum tried to get out of it and they didn't accept that as a reason

 

[xeuyrawp]

Nope, my parents own a childcare centre and by law they have to maintain a child staff ratio, my mum tried to get out of it and they didn't accept that as a reason

That's interesting. My mum got out of it by saying that she was a single parent with 3 dependents.

 

[melsc]

That's a bit different though, because my mum could hire someone else...

 

[santaslayer]

My Legal Studies acted stupid pre-court time and he was asked to leave straight away.

 

[melsc]

My legal teachers son in law did the same, dressed really badly, hung out with the bikies there for jury duty and was challenged the second he stood up LOL

 

[santaslayer]

My legal teachers son in law did the same, dressed really badly, hung out with the bikies there for jury duty and was challenged the second he stood up LOL

I reckon...

there are so many ways to get out of jury duty.


which should not be examined and discussed any further since jury duty is a right and responsibility of every voting citizen in australia.....

 

[MiuMiu]

You don't get challenged the second you stand up, ive sat through about 5 empanellments (I have only been directly involved in one, but during court observations Ive seen heaps)....you actually go up, sit down, wait for everyone else to be called, and then they read through the numbers again...when your number is called the parties get about 3 seconds to decide whether they will challenge.

Its actually a DPP policy that the prosecution should not set out to achieve a jury that is not representative of society...however in practice this is obviously not how it works.

Acting like a jerk in order to get out of jury duty really is a myth. During empanellment there isn't even opportunity to act like a jerk. What you've got to remember is that the people doing the challenging have done it hundreds of times before, and they are looking for a lot more than just how you are acting.

From my experience, the court officers are really very friendly and are on your side. If you really really reallly don't want to do it, you cannot be forced to. During an empanellment a judge will ask all those in the room if they feel comfortable sitting on a jury for whatever offence the case is trying--its a simple matter of telling the judge that you do not feel comfortable.

Theres no point making up stupid reasons (which is an offence within itself) because you can still be called like a month later....there are much more sensible and respectful ways of getting out of it.

 

[MiuMiu]

Oh and if you're a school legal studies student reading this, don't walk into a court room with a full gallery.....during empanellment these three girls in school uniforms just walked in and stood there like idiots for like a minute, I don't know if they expected someone to move so they could sit down or what, but they just giggled and walked out, really lame.

 

[xeuyrawp]

Its actually a DPP policy that the prosecution should not set out to achieve a jury that is not representative of society...however in practice this is obviously not how it works.

That's interesting. I don't know how this process works, because I never did legal and have never been to a jury case early in the show, so sorry for the stupid questions

Do you mean that the actual lawyers will try to get people that represent society? Considering they only know their jury number, do you mean that they pick different races and sexes?

 

[hYperTrOphY]

That's interesting. I don't know how this process works, because I never did legal and have never been to a jury case early in the show, so sorry for the stupid questions

Do you mean that the actual lawyers will try to get people that represent society? Considering they only know their jury number, do you mean that they pick different races and sexes?

What she means is that the prosecution, in theory, shouldn't challenge jurors that will cause the 12 remaining jurors to be un-representative of society as a whole. For example, if they are prosecuting a man of low socioeconomic status who has been accused of armed robbery, they may be more inclined to challenge those who look as though they are poor - since it will be perceived such people may sympathise with the accused's position/reasons. As a result, by challenging people from low SES, the jury becomes unrepresentative of society.
Sorry if that made little sense

 

[xeuyrawp]

What she means is that the prosecution, in theory, shouldn't challenge jurors that will cause the 12 remaining jurors to be un-representative of society as a whole. For example, if they are prosecuting a man of low socioeconomic status who has been accused of armed robbery, they may be more inclined to challenge those who look as though they are poor - since it will be perceived such people may sympathise with the accused's position/reasons. As a result, by challenging people from low SES, the jury becomes unrepresentative of society.
Sorry if that made little sense

So it's specifically got to do with the case at hand? I thought she means that they wanted all people in our society represented.

 

[xeuyrawp]

In year 11, we had a class that was dedicated to teaching us how to get out of jury duty. The teacher (who was also the school gardener) said things like "if they select you, wave and smile at the defendant."

I was thinking "this class is kind of immoral" the whole time, and it wasn't even a joke class, it was done in a serious manner. It wasn't a spur of the moment topic; they actually brought him in to the class for the specific purpose of teaching us how to get out of it.

He brought in 3 summons notices that he received, and he smiled and cheerfully said "i got out of all of these". I was thinking "oh my god" the whole time.

If he was a year 11 teacher (and gardiner) I don't see why he shouldn't go to dury duty.

 

[hYperTrOphY]

If he was a year 11 teacher (and gardiner) I don't see why he shouldn't go to dury duty.

He wasn't exempt because of his occupation or some other 'reason'. He just acted in a way that would ensure he was challeneged either by the defence or the prosecution.

 

[...]

i thought you would have to declare beforehand that you have no relation at all with either parties.

I would assume the Sheriff's office would inform you who these people were, and if you just walk into the courtroom and "waved and smiled" to one of those guys, wouldn't you get yourself into a bit of trouble?

 

[xeuyrawp]

He wasn't exempt because of his occupation or some other 'reason'. He just acted in a way that would ensure he was challeneged either by the defence or the prosecution.

No, I mean that he should have gone.

My mum had a valid reason to not want to go, and it turned out that she had a valid reason to get out of it.

He may have had a valid reason to get out of it, but I think he should have felt compelled to go. Maybe he had family or other work commitments...

 

[melsc]

Oh and if you're a school legal studies student reading this, don't walk into a court room with a full gallery.....during empanellment these three girls in school uniforms just walked in and stood there like idiots for like a minute, I don't know if they expected someone to move so they could sit down or what, but they just giggled and walked out, really lame.

Always when we went to check out cases the teacher would go on abt walking in bowing, being quiet, not going into closed courts etc...the only stupid things ppl did was try to take in deo and stupid things like that even after I told them once my puffer was mistake for a knife and I had a fork from my lunch in my bag for a mock trial to be held in the local court

 

[santaslayer]

In year 11, we had a class that was dedicated to teaching us how to get out of jury duty. The teacher (who was also the school gardener) said things like "if they select you, wave and smile at the defendant."

I was thinking "this class is kind of immoral" the whole time, and it wasn't even a joke class, it was done in a serious manner. It wasn't a spur of the moment topic; they actually brought him in to the class for the specific purpose of teaching us how to get out of it.

He brought in 3 summons notices that he received, and he smiled and cheerfully said "i got out of all of these". I was thinking "oh my god" the whole time.

I wish I was in your class. It makes learning THAT much more interesting.

 

[MiuMiu]

So it's specifically got to do with the case at hand? I thought she means that they wanted all people in our society represented.

Yeah what I meant was that when the prosecution are challenging, it is against DPP policy to challenge all the certain people in order to end up with a jury full of all the same sort of people (which will presumably be beneficial to the prosecution case).

Example: 12 jurors have been called up...........it is a case prosecuting a young guy for drug trafficking......it would be against DPP policy for a prosecution barrister to use their challenges to get rid of any young people on the panel in order to end up with a panel full of old women (who in general would be far less tolerant and understanding of young people and drugs).....the idea of a jury is to be tried before a cross-section of society....this includes people old and young and in-between........using your challenges to end up with all the old people isn't really a right thing to do, because you're really denying the person who's being tried the right to a fair trial....

Im talking about a case by case type thing...you aren't really meant to be selective in order to achieve a jury of a certain type of people.

 

[MiuMiu]

the only stupid things ppl did was try to take in deo and stupid things like that even after I told them once my puffer was mistake for a knife and I had a fork from my lunch in my bag for a mock trial to be held in the local court

That kind of toughness is a relatively new thing....when I was in year 12 there weren't even metal detectors or x-ray machines at my local court, you could take in anything really....now Im friends with the guys at the door there, its kinda funny.

I don't find the Downing Centre to really be a problem, except for the whole camera fone thing, I hate having to give up my fone so I usually swap it for my non-camera one when Im going in there.

But yeah, i must admit it does get annoying when you're doing observation or court support and like 10 school kids walk in with these retarded looking smirks, and laugh when they bow......its like just fricken bow and sit down, its not a comedy festival, these are real people you're watching.