Jury Duty: Not Always Easy
An interesting story today in the Commercial Appeal discussing the difficulties of jury duty in violent cases:
"It's like a nightmare because you only see that in a scary movie and then all of a sudden you get in a trial and this same type of scene comes to real life," said Leake, 43, who works for an air-conditioning company. "You can't believe somebody can actually do somebody like that. Some of the people on the jury were traumatized. One lady broke down and cried. She cried a lot."The full article can be found here. No doubt both criminal and civil cases can sometimes be difficult for jury members, as well as those involved in the court system on a daily basis. But, I would argue that the average citizen has no more solemn and critical obligation than to serve on a jury when called. In fact, each letter that leaves my office bears a stamp which reads "Jury Duty: Serve With Pride." I recommend reading the press release published by the United States Postal Service when they introduced the stamp. An excerpt:When the trial is over and the verdict is in, jurors are sent home to resume their lives with little thought given to how their experience in a gruesome or stressful trial might affect them later.
Post-traumatic stress disorder in the form of nightmares, obsessive thoughts, depression and social withdrawal is a real possibility, experts say, and some jurisdictions around the country have begun addressing the issue.
Courts in parts of Washington state, Oregon, Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, New York and, most recently, Texas offer post-trial counseling and debriefing services for jurors who have been on difficult cases.
With this stamp, the U.S. Postal Service calls attention to the importance of jury service, an essential obligation, shared by all eligible citizens, that is a cornerstone of democracy in the United States. By showing a diverse group of 12 representative jurors in silhouette, art director Carl T. Herrman and stamp designer Lance Hidy emphasize that, under the U.S. Constitution, the American jury system guarantees citizens the right to a trial by a jury of their peers...
Generally, in criminal cases, 12 jurors stand between the accused and the power of the government. Unless the government convinces a jury of the accused person's guilt - beyond a reasonable doubt - it may not deprive a citizen of life, liberty or property. In civil cases, a jury represents the conscience of the larger community, ruling in favor of either of the opposing parties in a dispute.
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