Funny Way People Have Gotten Out of Jury Duty
- National
- NSW
This was published 4 years ago
How to get out of jury duty: Planets not aligning is not a skillful excuse
By Julie Power
An increment in longer trials caused a 75 per cent rise concluding year in the number of fines for people who tried to get out of jury duty without a good reason, including those who claimed the planets weren't aligned and an allergy to airconditioning.
Figures from the NSW Department of Justice reveal juries are dominated by the young, old, underemployed and the retired.
Out of this world: weird excuses for not attending a jury include a lack of aligned planets. Credit:Dionne Gain
Compared with the general population in NSW, for instance, in that location are about twice as many people aged 50-59 and 60-69, while at that place are fewer people between xxx-49 than the rest of NSW.
Former criminal lawyer Julia Quilter said the complexity and length of trials had grown enormously, some lasting 12 weeks to six months, and this was making it more difficult for the courts to find jurors willing and able to serve.
Sex or drug trials can run for months, terrorism trials a year. Credit:AFR
In the past a sex or drug example would run for weeks. Now it could run for months, she said, calculation that terrorism trials could have up to a year.
Professor Quilter was a Sydney lawyer who is at present at the University of Wollongong Law Schoolhouse. "We are at present seeing extremely lengthy trials," she said.
In 2015, xiv,772 fines for not attending jury service – some for $2200 – were referred to the State Debt Recovery Office. This rose 75 per cent to 21,942 in 2016, with thirteen,568 fines so far this twelvemonth.
On average about 250,000 people are on the jury curl each year, however but 9000, or iii per cent, will serve.
Because of longer trials in 2016, which usually mean more people can't serve, the sheriff's part had increased summonses (when someone on the jury pool is asked to attend courtroom for jury option) to 395,183 people in 2016.
While someone who attends courtroom and is excused from duty is non called again, a person who is excused via mail service or online may be chosen several times.
"More summonses were issued for jury service in 2016 to suit a number of unusually long trials," a spokesman said.
"While there was also an increment in fine referrals in 2016, the numbers take fallen this year and are consistent with 2015 levels. This shows more people are complying with their civic duties."
While the court understands that jury service can be an inconvenience to people's lives, the spokesman said it was an important civic duty to ensure the justice organisation is made upward of a cross-section of the population and promotes a fair representation of community standards.
In improver to the length and complexity of trials, a large number of people are excluded from jury duty or take a correct of exemption from jury duty, said Professor Quilter. Many professions – including lawyers, doctors, dentists, police, members of the defence and emergency workers – are either exempt or not liable to serve.
While the payment of $106.thirty a day (increasing to $242.thirty a solar day on longer trials for jurors who are employed) could exist an incentive for people on lower incomes, information technology would non motivate those in higher-paid jobs.
Professor Quilter said it would be preferable to have juries that represented a broader section of the community, still it was her experience that jurors took their jobs "very seriously".
"They concentrate very well, and try and follow complicated legal arguments that were hard even for a lawyer," she said.
Calls to jettison juries in criminal trials on the grounds of presumed resistance by citizens were often based on an assumption that because people consider jury duty to be lengthy and poorly remunerated, they were unsupportive of the jury system, said pyschologist and lawyer Jane Goodman-Delahunty.
It was common for citizens to seek to filibuster their jury duty, yet research conducted in Northward America, Britain and Commonwealth of australia had confirmed that those who actually serve are glad they did, she wrote in a research paper in 2015.
"These assumptions are not supported by evidence," wrote Professor Goodman-Delahunty, who is based at Charles Sturt University. Her inquiry showed 84 per cent of participants either agreed or strongly agreed that jurors needed more compensation for expense. Yet 79 per cent of participants all the same endorsed the view that "jury service is an important civic duty", she wrote.
Lawyers reported that some members of the public arrived for jury duty in clothes or with strange haircuts they think may prompt their dismissal.
Some wear shorts and thongs, and others opt for extremely conservative apparel, with women in pearls.
A member of the public told Fairfax that someone arrived for jury duty carrying a re-create of Adolf Hitler's book and manifesto Mein Kampf, ostensibly a bid to get dismissed on the grounds of holding extremist views. She doesn't know if information technology worked.
My dog ate my letter and other excuses
Claiming the planets weren't aligned was among the more bizarre excuses that members of the NSW public gave to avert performing their civic duty. Other unusual examples included:
- I am allergic to airconditioning and am scared of coming into an airconditioned room;
- I need to look after my cat;
- I have a public transport phobia and tin can't attend because in that location is no ane to drive me to court;
- The planets are not aligned and it's not a good fit for me;
- I will autumn asleep in the trial and my snoring will be a distraction.
A spokesperson for NSW Justice said these excuses didn't have whatever supporting evidence and were refused.
Who can't serve?
If y'all aren't on the electoral roll, you can't serve. Others who are excluded include anyone with a criminal confidence, someone who holds high part, such as the Governor-Full general, crown prosecutors, lawyers, police officers, members of Parliament, and anyone who has admission to information about prison inmates.
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Others may also seek exemption, including dentists, doctors, clergy and emergency workers.
What's a suitable excuse?
The most common reasons people are excused are affliction or injury, a conflict of interest, proof that they would suffer fiscal hardship, and employment. Claiming the dog ate your jury alphabetic character won't work, but potential jurors can exist excused if they have a proof of a pre-booked holiday, medical reasons, study commitments or intendance for children or others.
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Source: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/how-to-get-out-of-jury-duty-planets-not-aligning-is-not-a-good-excuse-20171016-gz1pb2.html
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