>Probably criminal. If it were civil, the jury consultant would have
>spotted Doug right away and he would have been bounced on a
>peremptory.. One doesn't usually see jury consultants in criminal
>cases.
>BTW- The easiest way to get off of jury duty is wear a FIJA ["Fully
>Informed Jury Association"] button to the first day of jury duty....
No, civil. And I don't want to get bumped - it's one of the few things I feel a civic duty about. The jury system is great - beats putting one's fate in the hands of some elitist judge! And it's inspiring to watch ordinary people take the task so seriously - something in daily life that makes you believe that democracy could work out after all.
I gotta say, there's a lot that's fundamentally wrong with our system of government; I'm a devoted follower of Dan Lazare's critique of our constitutional system. But the justice system seems pretty solid conceptually. Sure there are tremendous inequalities of representation - rich man's vs. poor man's justice, etc. But those are problems of the larger society. Seems like arguing out disputes before a jury composed of ordinary citizens is a fundamentally great idea.
Doug