...How to Get out of Jury Duty The mailman delivers good news and bad news. Topping the “bad news” list for many people who live in Los Angeles is a jury summons. This document tells you that you must respond by mail or phone for possible service on a jury. Many people feel that jury duty is a boring chore and would prefer not doing it. In fact, court clerks say that the most common question they hear is: Why do I have to serve? The official response is: Jury duty is a responsibility that all qualified citizens must share. If you are a citizen, if you can read and understand English, if you’re over 18 years old, and if you’re not a felon, you are eligible for jury duty. If you ignore the summons, you might be fined up to $1,500. A jury trial might last one day or one month. If you work for the government, this is no problem, because the government will pay you your regular salary while you are on jury duty. However, if you are self-employed, you lose your regular income for that time period. Instead of your regular income, you get $15 a DAY for sitting on a jury. This is another reason people try to avoid jury duty. Jack got the bad news yesterday. Even though he was retired and sat around all day watching reruns of old movies, he told his wife Polly he wasn’t going to be a juror. He hated jury duty and he was not going to let the courts interfere with his retirement. “So how do you think you are going to get out of it?” Polly asked, both amused and irritated. “Are you going to...
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...How the Jury System Works In America Rebecca Ward Mt. Olive College Abstract This paper delves into a discussion on the Jury System of America and its intricacies. The method of selection of the jurors and their qualifications are also a topic of discussion in this paper. The juror’s rights and obligations to the court are also adequately threshed out and explained in this paper as well. Most importantly the rules and regulations governing the jury will also be a topic for discussion in this paper. The etiquette and demeanor of each individual juror is delineated here to shed light on how the jury should properly behave during a trial. How the juror’s employment with other firms and how their absences from their individual work are affected by their compulsory jury service to the courts is also delved into in this paper. The proper treatment and benefit which the juror’s employers should accord their employees who are summoned to jury service is also explained in this paper. Over-all this paper is an attempt to adequately explain the jury system of the United States of America and how it affects in terms of the individual juror’s demeanor in court, qualifications, selection, rights and obligations to the court and employment absences of the jurors in the jury system. How the Jury System Works In America The Jury system of America is that mechanism which is made mandatory by law which calls on its citizens to decide on controversies...
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...Jury Selection Process Every American that has registered to vote or has a drivers license can at any time be called to serve on a jury. There are mixed feelings about being called for duty. Some Americans see it as a nuisance that will disrupt their lives. Others see it as an opportunity to serve their country. Being called to serve, and actually serving is two different matters. A jury is ultimately selected by the judge, prosecutor and defending attorney. How they are they picked? How are they released? Maybe this paper will answer a few of these questions. The selection of a jury is the process that occurs right before the actual trial, and after the trial initiation and the arraignment and plea. Only about 10 percent of actual arraignments see an actual trial, because 90 percent of cases that are preparing for trial end up accepting a plea bargain (Schmalleher, 2009). Any one who is accused of a crime and will stand trial is allowed by the Sixth Amendment the right to an impartial jury. For a jury to be impartial, it is not always true that they have no prior knowledge of the case at all. In the case of a highly publicized trial, it can be almost impossible to find 12 people who know nothing about the case at hand or the accused. Some jurors will be excused based on how suitable they are judged to be for the case, and some may be excused because of reasons beyond their control (Schmalleger, 2009). I have been called to serve jury duty one time in my life. At the...
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...Street Law for Youth Courts © 2006 A JURY OF YOUR PEERS: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF DIVERSITY IN JURIES? OUTCOMES As a result of this lesson, students will be able to: Identify the skills, experiences and values essential for ideal jurors Explain the popular concept of “a jury of your peers” and describe its application in youth courts and adult courts Define diversity and discuss the benefits of a diverse jury Define terms such as: grand jury, petit jury, summons, jury pool, jury venire, voir dire, removal for cause, peremptory challenge Describe the right to a jury given by the United States Constitution Explain why the jury system is important in a democracy, especially in a pluralistic society MATERIALS NEEDED Chalkboard and chalk or flipchart paper and markers (Optional) Several samples of help wanted advertisements. The ads should describe the type of candidate the employer is seeking. The particular job does not matter. HANDOUTS 1 Help Wanted (enough for each student) 2 The Rights to Juries According to the U.S. Constitution (enough for each student) 3 How Are Petit Juries Selected? (enough for each student, plus an extra copy) 4 Options for More Diverse Juries (enough for each student) 5 News Flash! (enough for each student) A Jury Of Your Peers 91 Street Law for Youth Courts ©2006 TRANSPARENCY OR POSTER (Optional) Strauder v. West Virginia PREPARING TO TEACH THIS LESSON Prepare the materials listed above. Write up and post the outcomes of the lesson. Write...
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...Mozam Moughal – Legal Expert Q&A SUNDAY!! Lisa, I am more than happy in assisting you and putting the knowledge I have to use for a good use. Firstly, I will describe one of the most fundamental people in the legal systems which are lawyers. There are two types of lawyers which are solicitors and barristers. [pic] [pic] Most solicitors are graduates with a law degree. They must also undertake professional training both by a one year Legal Practice Course and then by two years under a training contract with a solicitor in practice. Solicitors generally work in large partnerships and they undertake most of the work in magistrates’ courts and county courts - both preparation of cases and also advocacy. But litigation- which is taking legal action: is only a small part of the work of the solicitor’s profession as a whole. Most are involved in commercial work relating to business e.g. dealing with commercial and other property dealings. There is also a large amount of private client work which does not involve any litigation (if it all runs smoothly) such as the conveyance of houses, making wills, advising on tax matters and so on. If you have any problems with your solicitor then you can contact the Law Society which regulates the work of solicitors and they deal with matters such as training, qualifications and complaints. BARRISTERS ...
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...As Alan Dershowitz once said, “Juries are not computers. They are composed of human beings who evaluate evidence differently.” As shown in this quote, Dershowitz means that juries are composed of different people who have different opinions on certain things. The subject regarding the fairness of jury’s is a very debatable topic. In the book, “The Twelve Angry Men”, the details of the book shows how jurors are just, by having a set rule to have a true unanimous vote. However, some people may think that jury’s are unfair due to different juror’s being biased. Despite the facts that some jurors may be biased, jury’s have a positive impact because of the personal opinion of someone. In America’s jury system there are many opportunities and factors...
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...cannot be fired at will in the state of Mississippi. Employers are expected to comply with federal laws and not be discriminatory against employees when terminating as this could lead to wrongful termination lawsuit even in at will states. Whistleblowers are protected to prevent wrongful termination when bringing attention to inappropriate conduct and behavior in companies. Mississippi’s Supreme Court created a public policy exception to protect whistleblowers. Companies are not able to terminate whistleblowers for speaking up. Employers and employees both have responsibilities in the workplace. Employers are responsible for the safe workplace environment, benefits, and salary, and the employee is responsible for performing the job duty that they were hired to perform. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner was established to help to protect employees that report violations of certain statutes. The employment-at-will...
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...Introduction “Trial by jury is… the lamp that shows that freedom lives” and that “each jury is a little parliament”. - Patrick (later Lord) Devlin. Jury system has survived in our country for almost 10 centuries. The core values, representativeness, resides in the ability made available for ordinary citizens to plays an important participatory role in the criminal process. It is generally accepted that the jury of ’12 good men and true’ lies at the heart of the British legal system. However, the misconduct in jury has become a vital issue as people starting to lose confidence with it. The importance of jury system Redmayne, a professor of law, said that it is arguably that twelve randomly selected individuals produce a broader range of experience and expertise than one single judge. Based on this, it is also arguable that jury trial will produce a fairer outcome than single judge as people cannot completely sure that judges will treat every single cases at a completely fair manner. ‘Fairness’ is what all the people demand, which is why we have jury trial and which survive for such a long time, but the precondition of jury trial is that it must provide an impartial trial. Jury trial holds public confidence as people assume that jury trial will bring a fair procedures and will produce fair outcomes. ‘Trust in the jury’ is very important as it is the strongest support that keep the jury system works and which is secured by the fact that it applies...
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...right of the employer, for whatever reason, to dispense with the services of such employee”(Halbert,Ingulli,pg 65). This was a quote by Justice Harlan in Adair vs. U.S. in 1908. Employment-at-will is a legal rule that developed in the nineteenth century, which gave employers the power to “dismiss their employees at will for good cause, for no cause, or even for cause morally wrong, without being thereby guilty of a legal wrong”(Halber,Ingulli). Although it is clearly stated about the employment-at-will and how employers can fire employees for anything, there are some exceptions to the rule. Three Key Exceptions The first exception to employment-at-will is the public-policy exception. With the public-policy exception, an employee is wrongfully terminated when it is against an explicit, established policy of the State the company is out of. The employer cannot fire an employee if they have a worker’s compensation claim if they were hurt at work. “It is recognized in 43 out of the 50 states. A couple states that do not recognize this are Nebraska, Florida, and New York”. (bls.gov, pg. 5) The public policy exception is the one exception that is mostly regarded in the U.S. The second exception to the employment-at-will is the implied-contract exception. This happens when the it is an implied contract between both parties, even though there is no written contract. The employer may make verbal or written representations to employees regarding the security of their job. Some states...
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...Employment-at-Will & HR To The Rescue LEG500 Professor Kapalko 2 February 2014 Summarize the employment at will doctrine and evaluate each of the 8 scenarios. The employment at will doctrine is a common-law rule that an employment contract of indefinite duration can be terminated by either the employer or the employee at any time for any reason; also known as terminable at will. Traditionally, U.S. employers have possessed the right to discharge their employees at will for any reason, be it good or bad. The "at-will" category encompasses all employees who are not protected by express employment contracts that state that they may be fired only for good cause. "Good cause" requirements are typically a part of collective bargaining agreements negotiated by employee unions; nonunion workers rarely have this form of protection. The at-will doctrine also does not apply to contracts for a specified term, such as an employment contract that contemplates the employee providing service for a expressly designated number of years. In the following scenarios, the company’s human resources team must take action and decide whether to fire several employees for harmful actions. The scenarios are: John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer. In this scenario, John has publicly criticized the company’s most important customer, which might lead the customer to suspend all business with the company. Due to this customer being...
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...taken lightly, as seen in Twelve Angry Men. How does Rose use the play to reflect these themes? In Reginald Rose Twelve Angry Men, Rose uses the play to reflect the duty and responsibility of a juror. Rose uses the characters to reflect different themes of the play. As a democratic country, jurors have a great privilege and responsibility and it shouldn’t be taken lightly as some juror’s demonstrated. Rose represents different personalities and beliefs with each juror. A young man’s life is at stake, most of the juror’s assume he is guilty on the first vote. But luck for the boy is that the 8th juror who wants it to be a fair trial and wants to “talk this thing out”. A fair trial that everyone is entitled to. Juror 8th is in contrast with the other jury members who allow personal bias to make up their verdict and decisions. Rose starts of the play with the judge stating the duty of the jurors, and that they have to come up with a unanimous verdict. The play progresses with the changing of individual juror’s minds. Rose represents juror 8 as the protagonist and the hero of the case. Juror 8 represents the strengths of the jury systems. Juror 8 insists on looking at the facts in the case even though everyone else has already got their mind made up. In the play juror 8 is used to represent a juror who is doing his duty the right way. He is patient , tolerant and thinks about reasonable doubt. Even tho juror 8 was shadowed by 11 other jury members, he still stood his ground and wanted...
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...Lay People Magistrates & Juries o You need to know: o Qualification; Appointment and Selection and Training; / Role (what they do) o Need to be able to comment upon: o Whether we have cross-representation of society as magistrates and juries o To what extent juries are randomly selected / how to improve selection o Advantages and disadvantages of using lay people in decision-making process. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ∑ “lay” meaning not legally qualified. ∑ Tradition of using non-legally qualified people in the decision-making process in our courts. This is cornerstone of our English legal system: o Fundamental right to trial "by one's peers" o Therefore, we need a cross-representation of society to be magistrates and juries. o [then justice is not only done, but seen to be done.] Selection (picked): Randomly selected from electoral register Selection(picked): Selected for their qualities Requirements: a) Formal requirements: Age: 18 — 65 years (retire at 70 years old) Residence: Within 15 miles of commission area of the court. Minimum Time per year: 26 half days b) Character requirements: [1988 Lord Chancellor guidelines] 6 key qualities good: character / understanding & communication / social awareness / maturity & sound temperament / sound judgement / commitment & reliability. INELIGIBLE: ∑ Those with serious criminal record ...
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...point of murder) and you planned out what you were going to do to kill them, that is first degree. Second degree murder is when someone does not plan to kill a specific person but does have the intention of killing. For example, if you were robbing a bank and you killed an innocent bystander, that is malice aforethought and that is considered second degree murder. The punishment for this is a long term (20 years) or lifetime sentence in prison because it is not as severe as first degree. (????) Involuntary manslaughter is pretty similar to second degree murder, but there was no previous intention to kill someone. It is basically when someone is doing something dangerous that could harm them themselves, and do not have any intention of harming others, but in the end they do end up hurting another person. This is called criminal negligence. Jurors actually have a lot of things that they have to do in court. First, they have to take an oath having them agree to having no bias in their...
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...Assignment 1: Employment-At-Will Doctrine 5/4/14 * Summarize the employment-at-will doctrine and evaluate each of the eight (8) scenarios described by determining: The employment-at-will doctrine states that an employee can be fired or released from a company for cause or no cause at all. The employee also has the right to quit a job for any reason. Under this legislation, neither the employer or employee incurs “adverse legal consequences” (NCSL, 2014). There are three exceptions that are observed by the law to include a dismissal that “violates a state’s public policy, where there is an implied contract for employment, or where there is an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing” (Muhl, 2001, p4). People cannot be fired based on the “individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012, p134). An individual can also not be fired based on a disability or due to filing a workman’s comp claim. Imagine you are a recently-hired Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a midsize company preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). You quickly discover multiple personnel problems that require your immediate attention. As an astute manager, you will need to analyze the employment-at-will doctrine and determine what, if any, exceptions and liabilities exist before taking any action. * Whether you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine. ...
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...Jury Trial Analysis Jaynice Harden March 16, 2015 CJA/364 Criminal Procedure Shane Krauser Jury Trial Analysis In today’s society, there are many people who know what a jury trial is and what is expected in the process of a jury trial. They may also know why the process is important and very necessary as it protects the citizens of the United States. The part that some people may not know about is the process that is taken during the pre-trial phase. Any and every individual that has been accused of wrong doing have the right to a fair trial. In addition, everyone has the right to an attorney to help then fight and understand the legal side of the defense. A jury trial can consists of 12 adjudicators which as selected at random that will take all information into consideration and decide upon the facts of the civil or criminal case. Criminal cases are more serious than civil cases. “In this case, serious offense refers to offense carrying a punishment of over six months (Gaines & Miller,2011). A jury trial consists of six steps that must be followed in order to ensure a fair trial. The prosecution as well as the defense is very needing of these steps in the criminal justice system. If it should happen to be a violent crime then a fair and impartial jury would have to be the ones to give the prosecution the verdict. However, if it turns out that the accused is not guilty then the accused have the right to due process and a fair trial. A jury trial is very important...
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