Jury Duty: The Secret Truth

I have a confession: I have never had Jury Duty. When I got a form last month about needing to verify my information so they could potentially call me, I winced a little. It's not so much that I don't want to be on a jury as that I hate finding my way downtown to places I haven't been to be amongst a bunch of people I don't know all by myself.

In a strange coincidence, however, at right about the same time that the form arrived I was listening to a lecture (the Great Courses Series) on Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. And guess what? Tocqueville was all about Jury Duty!!

In a perspective I've never heard voiced before, he lauded the American system of juries because, in it's original setup, it was designed to be a free training ground for all American citizens in law and democracy!

Before people "learned" about the drama of court from Law & Order and the "adjustments" to our legal system (which take as much as possible out of a jury's hands), the court system was a true check- and- balance to the other branches of government. Juries were allowed to make decisions and set sentences for those convicted. If they believed an action was justified, they could choose not to convict or not to sentence.

Moreover, it was not the judges and lawyers who held the reins of power, but the people. Because the people held the power, educated and experienced lawyers and judges took the time and made the effort to explain to everyday people on the jury what the applicable law was in language they could understand. This ensured that the average citizenry developed and maintained a grasp of key issues related to power, law and constitutionality.

I'm not sure how exactly we as a nation slipped from the proud origins of this system our Founding Fathers set up for our benefit to our shameful current state where finding ways to get out of Jury Duty is a universal joke. I do know that it's a sad state of affairs that we'd be wise to change.

I, for one, would love to serve on a Jury that defies lawyers and judges to hand down a sentence actually applicable to the crimes committed and that will actually deter further offenses. That would give Law & Order something to rip from the headlines.