jr conlin's ink stained banana

I was just excused from Jury Duty. I won't go into details about what the case was about (of course), and while I can't say I was thrilled about being called, I understand my civic duty to be called to sit on a panel of peers.

Pro Tips:

1. Remember your distance glasses.
2. Bring a water bottle.
3. Read the monitor at least once, because they're not going to call your name, they'll call your Panel Number, and the only place that's displayed is... on the monitor.
4. Bring something to read, but leave the headphones / earbuds at home. You're going to have to pay attention to announcements and they're not super loud.

Anyway, back to the point I wanted to make. During the general jury introduction, the presiding judge notes a few key points:

• The Defendant is presumed innocent. The Prosecution must prove to the Jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Defendant is guilty.
• Just because the Defendant was arrested and charged, does not mean that they have committed the crime.
• Neither the Defense or Prosecution need call all of the witnesses.
• The Defendant is not required to testify.

Granted, the above is a summation of the points. The Judge also gave a quick civics lesson about how the three branches and how the Legislative creates the Law, the Executive enforces the Law, and the Legislative ensures that the Law is justly applied.

The Judge then asked if anyone did not understand or felt they could not abide by those points, and that the Judge would discuss them with the Juror after. Of a group of about 40 folk, 7 raised their hands.

I have no idea why those 7 raised their hands. It could have been because they were not fluent in English enough (we're a multicultural region, but there are existing measures that folk like that should take before they get to this point). It could have been because they had questions about aspects of these that I am unaware of. Still, the number of people that feel they don't understand these points kinda shocked me.

I really do hope that those folk had questions or reasons I couldn't imagine. I sincerely hope that these folk don't just presume that someone who gets arrested is instantly guilty of a crime, or that someone "Just has to be guilty! Just look at them!"

The problem is that in today's world, I'm not sure I can dismiss that so readily.

And, by god, does that make me sad.