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muddlinthrough
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25 Jul 2006, 12:48 pm

I just got a notice to report for Jury duty August 8th, along with a form I must send back in the next 5 days.

Now, I'm not adverse to doing this-while I think American "democracy" has huge flaws,
I also accept that their are times when this really is the only system we've got :( .

However, I have doubts now about myself I never would have had before my dx.
Will my difficulites with figuritive speach and undersanding human motives trip me up?

Will my sense of objectivity and detachment make me more fair than most jurors?

Should I report my aspergers to the court, either to bow out or let them decide?



Jetson
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25 Jul 2006, 1:12 pm

muddlinthrough wrote:
Should I report my aspergers to the court, either to bow out or let them decide?

You can apply directly to the court to be released from having to appear. That process of early elimination is usually reserved for people who can't attend jury selection at all such as people who are travelling, have care-giver responsibilities that can't be delegated, or because they are an "essential employee" who can't be spared (such as a medical specialist).

During the jury selection process both lawyers would ask questions to determine your impartiality and your ability to follow the case. At that point you could tell them you've been diagnosed with an ASD and let them decide. I'd be quite surprised if they didn't send you home.

The courts usually summons a lot of people all at the same time, so it's possible your name will be far enough down the list that they'll fill the jury and you'll get to leave without having to tell them anything.

Personally I think serving on a jury would be quite an interesting experience, but I doubt I'll ever get the chance. For me, the attention deficit problem would be worse than the Aspergers. I don't misunderstand people as much as I did when I was younger, but there are a lot of times when I'm just not listening...


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25 Jul 2006, 2:09 pm

They want sheep that will apply the law as instructed. Give them any reason to think you are a free thinker and can't be told what to think and you will never serve on a jury.

One lawyer asked me if I would have any problem applying the law as per the judges instructions and I asked him if he ment the laws the politicans made and was told I was free to leave.



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25 Jul 2006, 2:51 pm

I have no idea why I receive so many jury duty calls, since I have received nearly one every other year. I have a learning disability, and I've sent in documentation. They always reply back telling me that I was excused, but why keep sending me these things?

I probably wouldn't mind going, but the huge waiting beforehand is something that would really drive me insane. Also, I have a tendency to not always weigh in with many opinions around me, so I would not be hesitant to be the one to monkeywrench the process. Like, if I see a woman who had lost her job and was being prosecuted for theft, I wouldn't care what all the lawyers, jury members and whomever had to say: My vote will always be nay. It depends on the circumstances surrounding the individual, and most of those the jury is told to not weigh heavily on. I tend to like believe that people who commit cold-blooded crimes are the only ones who should be in jail and / or excessively fined.

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ljbouchard
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25 Jul 2006, 4:32 pm

If you really want to get out of jury duty, all you have to do is learn about Jury Nullification and inform the court that you do know about that concept. No self-respecting prosecutor or judge would allow you to get near any seated jury. No muss, no fuss, no lying.

I think I saw a comment to that effect in this thread.


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gsilver
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25 Jul 2006, 6:22 pm

I've got my own jury duty problem right now:

I got a summons a few months ago, with the term falling in between my transition back to college.

I'll be living two different places during this time, and I gave them the college address.



If they send a request for me to appear before I return, the mail forwarding will cause it to be delayed.


If they send a request after I return, the forwarding may also prevent me from seeing it in time (even though the forwarding should stop before I get there... they started it two months late... so stopping it in a timely manner cannot be counted upon)


Also, I don't have any sort of transportation right now, nor do I know anyone who would be willing to drive for several hours to get me to where court is being held (there is no bus system in Socorro). There is a chance that I may get enough driver training in addition to insurance to drive a car by the time I return, but it isn't guranteed.



Any advice other than: have fun in jail for contempt of court due to matters outside of your control



wobbegong
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25 Jul 2006, 10:47 pm

Ah jury duty

If you want to do it, turn up neatly dressed in clean clothes that are not business like, for example unripped jeans, shoes, sox and a tshirt (or whatever the winter equivalent is where you are). Do not tell them about aspergers. I actually think it would be an advantage, but you might have a harder time telling who is lying, but you won't get carried away by someone's charisma or emotional manipulation. If you want to see what other juries look like, show up to some court cases in the same place the week before and see what the juries look like. If you want to mess with the lawyers heads, show up in the neat casual (jeans and tshirt) for selection, and your best darkest business suit for the actual case.

I didn't want to do jury duty, but I didn't have any "valid excuse", so I had to show up. I wore my very best business suit. And I got excused each time they called me up, no questions asked. One case I don't think I could have been fair or impartial about because something similar bad had happened to me and I didn't justice for it. But I never got the opportunity to say anything (Australian court). The other case would also have been tricky because although I knew what the guy was accused of, was against the law, I didn't personally have any problem with it, I thought the law was stupid.

There were a couple of people who got off for religious reasons, the judge who was supervising was pretty angry at them for not being "willing to do their duty". There was one very pregnant woman who said she was willing but would need immediate access to a toilet because the baby was causing her bladder problems, she got excused.

The lawyers love people like public servants, little old ladies, and unemployed people. My guess at why is maybe they think these people are a little bit stupid and easy to manipulate.

In Australia they pick people who are enrolled to vote and don't have certain jobs like doctor or teacher or lawyer. They will pick unemployed, self employed, consultant, public servant etc. They don't accept excuses like that jury duty will damage your business because you won't be able to work - you're expected to do it out of your civic duty, and your boss is expected to let you out of his civic duty. In Australia it is illegal to sack someone for having jury duty. It could still cause some people considerable financial hardship because your boss is not obligated to pay you (that's another reason why they like public servants and unemployed). You could state that but you'd get off easier with "religious reasons" or "weak bladder". If you do want to get off for health reasons, it would be best to show up with a note from your doctor stating that you would be unsuitable for jury duty for health reasons.

The other way I got out of jury duty was not to respond to the business card from the sheriffs office for about three months, and then I called. So they had already done their quota for that round and I was put back into the draw. I could have gotten out of it the first time by being completely unavailable for them to serve a summons on me. And the way to stop a summons from being served on you, is not to be home when someone knocks on your door and asks for you by your full name. The last time that happened I looked at the papers, they'd spelled my name wrong, so I said that no person of that name (on the paper) lived here... They never came back. Dunno what it was for. Never accept a summons on behalf of someone else either. Can you give this to your friend for me? No.



emp
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26 Jul 2006, 4:46 am

wobbegong wrote:
If you want to mess with the lawyers heads, show up in the neat casual (jeans and tshirt) for selection, and your best darkest business suit for the actual case.


haha, I love it, I will try to remember that for if I am ever selected for jury duty. That is the sort of thing I would definitely enjoy doing.



wobbegong
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26 Jul 2006, 5:08 am

Yes, dark business suits are lawyer uniforms. Even the women wear them, often with either long dark pants, and matching jacket, or long dark skirt, even full length. It usually looks like they've spent a lot of money on these suits, but you can usually find something close enough in the op shops, or the office work wear type shops. Just avoid anything brown or grey. If you go pin stripe, it has to be really narrow, like a pencil thin line.

Wearing one suddenly makes you look like you are employed, capable of intelligent thought and ambitious. Of course none of this may be true but they've really only got the "book cover" to go on.

I believe in certain circumstances a jury can also ask questions in court. The process is a little convoluted but if you feel strongly enough that some crucial bit of information is missing, you can ask for it. Sometimes both the defence and prosecution is complicit in avoiding stuff that would help the jury determine the truth better.

However it isn't usually nearly as much fun as the TV lawyer shows suggest. Most lawyers have no clever entertaining presentation skills whatsoever. Mostly they try to send you to sleep with loads of information about how this case is like some older case (precedents). Without actually telling you much about what either case is actually about. All presented in an even monotone (maybe some of them are aspie).

I've managed to avoid jury duty on a regular basis, but I go in as a spectator sometimes.



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26 Jul 2006, 4:04 pm

I believe you have to sign the form and send it back disability or not. :(



wobbegong
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26 Jul 2006, 9:00 pm

I'd check the box no, because I don't think aspergers disables me. I know not everyone feels that way about it. But if you are collecting a disability benefit of some sort it would probably be appropriate to check the box yes. It depends, they're bound to think some sort of physical disabilty like needing a wheelchair first. Depends on the wording of the question.



Kafkubrickian
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26 Jul 2006, 9:43 pm

I did jury duty. It's awesome. You're not going to be "bad" at it. When I got done with mine, I realized how it really works. The whole ideal is that every human being involved surrender themselves into pure rational agents with a clear function. It's sweet.



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27 Jul 2006, 2:30 am

It can be interesting to see how our legal system works (or doesn't work, sometimes) from that perspective.



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24 Aug 2006, 1:02 pm

Johnnie wrote:
They want sheep that will apply the law as instructed. Give them any reason to think you are a free thinker and can't be told what to think and you will never serve on a jury.

One lawyer asked me if I would have any problem applying the law as per the judges instructions and I asked him if he ment the laws the politicans made and was told I was free to leave.


:mrgreen:


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aspiesmom1
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24 Aug 2006, 1:40 pm

I've avoided getting called to jury duty for the last 12 years by simply opting out of the voter's registration process. (Even when I was a registered voter I never seemed to get to the polls, so all I got out of it was jury summons). I live in the US, where for some reason most counties like to tell people they pull your name from your drivers' license. Balderdash.

It is however, a double edged sword.

I was attacked recently, by a neighbor, and here in the US when the cops show up the majority rules. Since my neighbor had all his biker friends there to nod their heads yes and say I attacked my neighbor (who is 6'3" and very strong - I'm 5'6", overweight, very ill, and spend most of my day in a power chair since I don't get around well due to neuropathy and some other issues). I ended up on the ugly side of that coin. I may have to go to court.

This means I will be judged by a jury of my "peers". Peers who are basically people unable to get out of jury duty.


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24 Aug 2006, 3:31 pm

Usually when I get a jury notification, my mom takes care of it and just lies to them, saying I have the flu or something.


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