"I have never been called to jury duty despite being registered to vote since 18. Of course I'm not complaining."
But don't you realize that you SHOULD be complaining?
Assuming that you are an intelligent and thoughtful FReeper, juries need you. All too often, good potential jurors either find an excuse or, like you, are inadvertently left out of the process.
That's how OJ got off. One old gal on that jury famously said that, "I never heard of no O.J. Simpson." Do we really want that kind of ignorance dispensing justice?
It happens daily around the country because potentially good jurors are too busy to give their time to a critical and fundamental American duty.
Nothing personal. You just gave me a chance to vent.
>>>Assuming that you are an intelligent and thoughtful FReeper, juries need you. All too often, good potential jurors either find an excuse or, like you, are inadvertently left out of the process. >>>
So who do I complain to?
Or are intentionally selected against by defense attorneys. I've spent several days on several different instances sitting as a member of a jury pool. My probably cynical, but also probably pretty accurate impression is that prosecutors want just the juror you describe, defense attorneys want just the opposite.
I also wonder about how jurors get onto the summons list. The last time I was there everyone I spoke to had been called multiple times. There were no first timers that I encountered. I've received 5 summons for various courts in the last 10 years - got excused from 3 appearances and spent time sitting as a part of the pool in 2.
I wouldn't mind sitting in the jury pool for several days (losing income for those days) if there was a chance in hell that I'd be selected. But it turns out to be a waste of time and money for me. /end of my rant with a slightly different perspective than yours:)