It was never intended to be complicated – a jury of your peers – not a perfectly hand picked jury that thinks exactly the way the lawyers want you to.
And why do I have to answer a 20 page questionnaire & lose three weeks because the defendant decided to rob a store and got caught “red-handed” with the stolen merchandise. He really should have taken the plea-deal.
As for the compensation, I broke even on the gas it cost me to get to court.
Well, run for office. Change the system. Save the world.
Well, I suppose one can try to better things locally. I used to work with the 3/20 Coalition, an activist group named after the date a young Black man suffering a mental health crisis was shot in the back 3 times by the officers responding to the 911 call his worried father had made, knowing his son was in distress.
Because he allegedly came at them with a butter knife, the “internal review” concluded that the officers in question acted in self-defense. None of them suffered any consequences, or were held accountable in any way.
The work since has been to ensure that mental health care professionals are called in these situations, instead of unqualified law enforcement.
It’s a long and frustrating process, so… forgive me for just a tinge of cynicism about the justice system in this country. Sorry, not sorry.
So many interesting comments. When I owned my own practice, the only one that saw kids and took insurance, I begrudged getting called for jury duty. I almost always had some connection in this small area, and never had a way to cover my practice.
For some reason, now that I can “give withan open hand”, I never get called anymore, but my adult children do. I do spend time in family court though, as a CASA ( always stumping for CASA 
)
Oh, don’t I know it. I’m not white so I get my share of ‘disproportionate policing’. I’m not black, though, and I was saddened and angry when a black roommate of mine in college used to talk about getting pulled over for DWB, especially when his white girlfriend was in the car, too. This in a city that has a reputation for being ultra liberal, but in fact has a very hillbilly core. Right now, the fact is that I would probably have to tell a court that if the defendant in a trial was black, I would probably not give the prosecution a lot of credibility.
We’re skirting pretty close to violating community guidelines, so I won’t pursue this topic here any further. Check your inbox 
make that three people. i have been called many times but have only been able to serve on 2 juries (one guilty, one not guilty). i’d be happy to serve again. for no other reason than if, in the unfortunate circumstance, i find myself on trial, i want highly competent, thoughtful jurors determining my fate.
Bingo. The trial I did serve on was a DUI, an old white guy driving a Rolls who side-swiped a cab. I’m pretty sure the cabbie filed a civil suit, and the criminal one was designed to supplement it.
You could see the lawyers’ selection process at work, since the everyone on the jury was white and held a master’s degree. We had to watch the guy’s stupid field sobriety test about a million times, which was pretty dull! But I met some cool people. And we convicted him.
What’s the propellant?
It doesn’t say.
I preheated a baking sheet to 400°, sprayed it with grapeseed oil, then sprayed one side of my chicken cutlets with the floury baking spray. I put the floury side down on the hot pan, sprayed the naked “up” side, baked for a few minutes, then flipped, baked, and broiled a little. They didn’t get much color. I don’t know that they were better than naked baked chicken cutlets. Maybe.
Thank you for your CASA work!
Mom’s a CASA too - for over ten years!
Exactly. So the system will work. I never forget that, even though I’m not a litigator, when I was sworn into the bar I, like every other licensed attorney, became an officer of the court. I still take that oath seriously. It’s a serious responsibility. I knew people who didn’t take it seriously. They were disbarred.
She was the coolest of the cool…WAY more cool than Kenickie or Zuko.
My daughter played Riz in our community theater group production. So…just saying. 
Thank you. Ten days after he graduated high school, and on FATHER’S DAY, to boot. Youngest child and only son. It’s been nearly half a century. On the 18th anniversary of his killing, I did the math while visiting his grave and realized he’d been dead longer than he’d been alive. I sat on his marker and wept like a baby.
John Travolta as Danny was one of my first celebrity crushes — the other one was Christopher Reeve… go figure! 
But yeah, Rizzo was fantastic. A local singer wanted to record a duet, and she’d initially chosen There Are Worse Things I could Do. I used to love that song (like I do most of the soundtrack), but listening it to it now I will have to say it def hasn’t aged well 
There’s quite a bit of Grease that isn’t exactly family friendly (“Greased Lightning” in particular) and “Summer Lovin’” implies non-consensual sex, or at least consent under duress. “Tell me more, tell me more. Did she put up a fight?”
And, much like The Breakfast Club (and countless other 80’s/90’s movies) advocates for having to change yourself to better fit in and get the romantic partner you desire. “Conform or be ostracized!” makes for a much less catchy chorus.
