THE RANT: November 14

The Rant

I hate jury duty.

OK, so it’s not so much that I hate jury duty. I hate being told I have to show up for jury duty and then never being picked to be on a jury. It’s a drag.

I don’t think it would be a big deal to me except that I think I’d be good on a jury. The only reason I can’t be on a jury is that I oppose the death penalty. I’m fairly certain this only applies to cases where the death penalty might be an option. And I’ve actually never been called up for jury duty. Ever. But I’ve only recently found out that, because I oppose the death penalty, I can not be on a jury in some cases. So, if at some point, I’m called up to jury duty, I might be excluded.

It seems strange to me that I can be excluded based on something like that. Isn’t the idea of a jury to get a cross-section of people? I could understand being excluded on other grounds, but it seems strange to me that we exclude people from cases based on being opposed to the death penalty. Is that not a position that should be allowed at the table when someone’s life is involved?

Maybe I’m alone here.

But anyway, I hate jury duty.

Sincerely,

Joshua Vlasman