Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Gratitude Challenge: Our judicial system


A good friend of mine, Brenda at Garden of Learning, put together a Gratitude Challenge.  The idea is to post for every day in November about something you are thankful for.  I'm not doing a very good job of that.

So -- Day Sixteen  --

Okay, so I'm kind of struggling with this today.  As some of you know, I was summoned for jury duty yesterday, and ended up being picked for a jury.  A domestic violence charge -- assault, harassment and false imprisonment.

While the case made me feel totally icky and yucky, and while I wanted the guy to be found guilty on at least one of the charges, as a jury, we had to find him not guilty on all three counts.

So, on one hand, that means that someone who undoubtedly should be punished is 'getting off' -- it also reminds me of the basic principle of the American judicial system:  innocent until proven guilty.

And really, I do appreciate that.

Along the same lines, I was reminded that I live in a pretty fantastic community.  When people are summoned for jury duty, they tend to show up.  Our county does not issue warrants for people who do not show up, because they DO get enough bodies in the seats to handle the cases.  According to the judge who spoke to us at the beginning of the morning, that isn't the case everywhere.


So although I found my jury duty frustrating, and while I think there are plenty of serious flaws in the system, I also am grateful as I watch it work the way it is supposed to.

2 comments:

Catherine said...

I'm grateful that people like you continue to show up and make it work. Thanks.

Vickie said...

I've only ever been summoned once many many years ago. My dh has been summoned several times. He just had jury duty this summer...no cases tho.