blog-12 Jury essay

Jury Essay



Hunter Kurtz
3/10/08
Bananas

There are a few qualifications you have to pass in order to be on a jury. The first one is that you must be a citizen of the United States and must be at least 18 years old. If you are younger than 18 then you are not allowed to be on a jury. You must also have resided in the judicial district for at least one year. This means that you have to have lived in that area of the state for at least a year. Another qualification is that you must be able to write, speak, read and understand the English language. If you cannot do this tasks then you will not be able to do what is asked when you go to court. The next qualification is you need to be mentally and physically able to render satisfactory jury service. Insane or injured people might not be able to be part of a jury, depending on their condition. The final qualification is you must not have any felony charges against you, or have been convicted in a state or federal court of record of a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, and your civil rights have not been restored. This means that if you have committed a crime or have been accused of a crime then you might not be able to serve as a jury member.

The selection of jury members is random and precise at the same time. First random people are sent notices in the mail asking them to appear in court on a certain day at a certain time. Everyone that goes is assembled in a room. Then you are brought in the court and the judge tells you about the case and the two sides. Then you are asked questions. They ask you these questions to figure out if you might be bias to one side of the case even a little bit or if you know someone else there that you could make bias or anything else that might lead you to giving an impartial verdict. The group is narrowed down to 12 people. Those 12 people will then serve on the jury. In some trials there can be a few less than 12 jury members.

There are some ways that you could be excused form a trial. One of them is that if you do not qualify as written above then you will be excused. Also, if the case settles then you can be excused that way too. If you are over 65 then you can write a letter to be excused. These following reasons are ways that people are sometimes excused; problem related to work or occupation, self employed, student teacher or school teacher, you have to care for someone and your absence will put them at risk, you are a volunteer firefighter, rescue squad member or ambulance crew member, if you have had a bad hardship, or if you have any other problems that might get in the way of serving as a juror.

The basic details of being a member of a jury are simple. You receive a letter by mail and go to the courthouse. You are selected out of a group of jurors to be part of the trial. Then you listen to the argument and decide if the accused is guilty or innocent. You discuss the case in a room you are told to and then give the judge you decision once an agreement has been reached.

The jurors have many duties during the trial. One of them is to not talk to other members of the jury about the case or to do any research on your own about the case either before you here the arguments. Then your duty is to listen to both sides of the case and decide of the accused in guilty or not. Then you and the rest of the jurors go into a room and deliberate. You deliberate until ¾ of the people agree on a civil trial and all of the people agree on a criminal trial. If after a long time you and the other jurors cannot agree then you are excused and other jurors take you place. After you all have reached an agreement you go back to court and deliver you verdict which is announced. After that the juries’ duties are over and you can leave the court.