Next time on SBC --- blogging from the county jail.

I’m so going to jail?

Was out of town last week on a short notice and I completely forgot to call-in and reschedule my jury duty appointment.

Jury duty isn’t so bad really, but I may have a slight biased as I have a somewhat above average sense of civic duty from the horrid wonderful days of being an Eagle Scout.

Depending on your count or state, the penalty for consecutively missing jury duty can vary from a hefty fine to jail time, so you shouldn’t simply toss the jury summons in the trash.

Most court clerks are fairly reasonable and will try to reschedule your jury duty date to a reasonable time — and for my county, jury summons are always sent weeks in advance so it isn’t too difficult to plan for.

Strangely enough, I’ve had a summons almost every year while some people I know have never received a jury summon in their life time.

Most mid to large size courthouse are ramping and modernizing their jury duty process to make life easier for jurors. Some, like my courthouse, offers free Wi-Fi access — although I don’t have a laptop so I usually just bring a good book or a notepad.

If you have never served as a juror and you have some free time, it may be something you can consider volunteering for — the lack of a proper jury pool is a significant problem in many parts of the country. It can be an interesting learning experience to see how the judicial process work and see your tax dollar at its best (or worse).

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