The
South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that
the grim economy is causing problems for courts that need jurors:
Judges and legal experts say the number of jurors asking to be excused because of economic pressures is increasing in South Florida and across the nation. With climbing unemployment, waves of home foreclosures and worries that time away from work could cost jobs, judges are finding it harder to seat juries, especially for trials expected to last longer than a day.
"They feel very insecure about their job status and there are those who say, "So many people have been laid off where I work, they can't do without me,'" said Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld. "For them to serve more than a couple of days, that's always been an issue in a longer trial. But it's gotten progressively worse in the last three months."
Judges and other legal experts say the problem could lead to clogged judicial systems across the nation and more of a strain on courts already hurt from budget cuts. And it could increase some court costs for taxpayers.
"It's a little harder these days," said Richard Gabriel, president of
Decision Analysis, a national trial consulting firm in Los Angeles. "I think what we're going to see is a little bit of a slowdown. Some states are even having shorter court days."
Say what you want about it being a civic duty, but many states have laughably low pay for jury duty.
Several states pay $10 per day. A few pay as little as $5 or $6. That may be no big deal for jurors whose employers continue to pay them while they serve, but what about people who don't earn a dime if they're not working? Some of the very people we want on juries can't afford to serve.
Hmmm ... I'm a bit skeptical about this. Have you...
