Brickbat: And You Thought the Pollsters Were a Pain

They came to grab a bite at the food court or do some lunch-time shopping, but 50 people at Calgary's Core Shopping Centre ended up with a summons for jury duty. And they had to report immediately. It's called Talesman, and it's basically grabbing someone off the street, or in this case the mall, to fill out a jury pool that isn't considered big enough. Alberta officials said the last time it was used in Calgary was 1996, though it was used in 2020 in Edmonton.

Comments

[Davy C]

And there are laws to do the same in the US, although it's rarely if ever done.

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[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

The Haymarket trial in the 1880s (?) went through so many prospective jurors that the judge sent the sheriff to round up more from the streets.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The right to a jury of your abducted peers, eh?

[kcuch]

The right to a speedy trial.

[Longtobefree]

Well, I'd certainly vote not guilty no matter the evidence.
And suggest to the judge we vote before the trial so we can get back to lunch.

[John F. Carr]

Don't try too hard. I have read a few stories about people who go to extremes to get out of jury duty and annoy the judge, who orders them to sit in court through the whole trial as punishment.

[Gaziger]

Well said. Forced participation in a jury trial would almost certainly result in a reversal of the verdict.
Just start asking about FIJA - Fully Informed Jury Association. Tell your fellow "jurors" that they can vote their conscience and judge not only the facts in the case but the very law itself.
That would stop some of these practices.

[jimc5499]

A friend is a retired Judge. He said that there's a simple solution to a "shortage" of potential jurors. Select people who are collecting unemployment. Treat it the same as a refusal of suitable work if they don't show up. Pay reasonable mileage, parking and for meals. Problem solved.

[kcuch]

Thanks, No. I would insist on a jury of my peers.

[Jerry B.]

So in my case that'd be left-handed, color-blind, cis-male, Federal retiree, Libertarian. Have fun rounding up 12 of them.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Federal retiree, Libertarian

I know some fed retirees. This probably isn't as rare as you think.

[Agammamon]

1. A shortage of jurors could be alleviated if perhaps we stopped making every damn thing criminal.

2. 'Reasonable' to you is not 'reasonable' to the government. They're not going to pay you min wage because they don't have to, they're not going to pay for your mileage because they don't have to, and lunch is warm baloney and cheese sandwiches in the break room - you'll have to make the sandwich yourself. You can get water from the sink but you need to bring your own cup.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Canada.

No.

[GroundTruth]

I think in Luna City ("The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"), they offered pay for jury work (like any other job). IIRC, there was no problem lining up the requisite juror to give good, fair consideration to the case - although one juror forfeited his promised pay for falling asleep during the case.

Maybe that might work better?

[jimc5499]

There's been talk of "professional jurors" for years. I think that it would be a good idea for liability cases. I'm not too sure about others.

[Iridium]

I believe that grand juries are a cautionary tale of what happens when juries serve too long ("a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich"). Granted, part of the problem is that the defense can't present their argument. However, I believe it is really difficult for people to be objective, after they see that 95+% of the time, the prosecutor is correct (the prosecutor can choose to drop a weak case, the defense cannot). After hearing a few cases, a juror needs to bumped. That, or prosecutors need to be forced to bring weaker cases to a mock trial, with an actor standing in for the defendant, with the jury only informed after their verdict whether it was a real trial or not. That would mean though that a third of the work of prosecutors, public defenders, and the courts would be putting on mock trials for the prosecution to lose.

[Utkonos]

Calgary—aka Little Shanghai