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Help answer this question below.
"I have no legal experience and do not feel qualified to judge others"
Great! You aren't supposed to judge others. You are supposed to weigh evidence in the case.
It is possible that you will not be choosen to serve on a jury but only after you have gone through the process of making an apperance and letting the Judge make a determination about it. Some times you are not even choosen to go in front of the Judge to give any excuse as to why you cannot serve and ultimately excused at the end of the day.
Sometimes if the Judge feels you are somehow full of B.S. and just making up something to get out of it, if there are no objections by either side...you can find yourself on a jury panel regardless of how qualified you feel you are.
Be racist or pretend to be racist, or maybe gay?
The fact that you have no legal experience is precisely what makes you qualified to serve on a jury. The jury is the trier of fact. The judge is the trier of law.
Most of us who have served on jury's have no legal experience..you can tell the judge why you don't want to serve and see if you can be let off but unless you have a really good reason don't get your hopes up.
the second time i was called up for jury duty, i was going through a rough patch personally, a letter from my doctor excused me , i was given the option to be called again at a later date, but chose not to do so.
you can be excused for medical , religeous, and some other reasons ,(in australia)you would need to check what the rules are in your country, there are twelve jurors, so you are not entirely responsible, also the judge may steer you in the right direction,it's an interesting process ,and if you are called up, it could be a valuable experience .
the first time i was called up i sat on 5 cases.
You do not need legal experience. The judge is there to provide legal knowledge, and should tell you all you need to know about the law. You are there to provide common sense and knowledge of the everyday world. Particularly, if someone is ex[plaining why it was quite reasonable for them to do something, do you, as an ordinary person, agree that they are reasonable. Or if two groups of people have differing stories, which is the more likely. For example, you might need to decide if something could really slip into someone's pocket "by accident", or if it is "reasonable" to respond to a tap on the shoulder with a punch in the face. You would be there not as a legal specialist but as an ordinary person who knows what other ordinary people thing is and is not reasonable.
That said, it is always possible to squirm out of it. On colleague just replied that he did not believe in the jury system.
How many other people that are chosen as jurors do you think have legal experience? You don't need it, all you have to do is listen to testimony, examine evidence and reach a conclusion based on how the judge instructs the jury. Chances are you will not be chosen. There are 12 jurors + 4 alternates on a criminal trial and 6 jurors and 2 alternates on a civil case. A panel of prospective jurors could be hundreds. The only time-consuming procedure will be the voir dire (process of choosing the jurors). You can be excused once, but will eventually have to do your duty. Best just go and get it over with if you do not relish the experience.
There is ways to get out of jury duty.If you show so prejudice towards the person being tried you will be passed over by the jury processing.
What happens if I miss my jury duty show up date? Will I go to jail?
by sega256 on July 19th, 2010
| 2 people like this
would you rather be physically or Psychically assaulted?
by Piano playin unicorn with a hat ™ on December 13th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
Jury Nullification: If you served on a jury and you believed the defendant was justified in their behavior
by Ellis on July 17th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
What's Jury Duty like? Can you speak from experience?
by breakstress on June 14th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
The right to a jury trial is a "right inviolate". Is it constitutional to require a person to pay a jury fee in order to claim that right?
by SeeMyProfile on August 12th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
You're reading Is it possible to not fulfil Jury Service? I have no legal experience and do not feel qualified to judge others?
Comments
Does that not amount to the same thing? With inexperience you could decide incorrectly and send someone to prison for something they did not do. Normally anything with such drastic consequences would be decided by a professional. I'm scared of doing the wrong thing.
by taracute on July 16th, 2009
No it's not the same thing. Judging a person is just using gut instinct or what you think you know about a person to decide what kind of person they are. Jury duty about looking at the evidence and deciding whether or not the evidence points to guilty or not guilty. If you examine the evidence and be as unbiased as you can then it doesn't matter if your decision is the wrong one...you did your best.
by Aquatic Eagle on July 16th, 2009