General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow, and who selects grand juries ?
I know these people are supposedly randomly selected from the voter roles, but I think there may some extra effort put forth as I'm pressed to not believe that prosecutors can find so many pliant people.
My Mother once served on the Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) GJ back in the late 70's. She really took it all very seriously, but was intimidated by the background search they did on her. She told me later that they had questioned her about ME during the process. ( Vietnam war and civil rights protesting, Black Nationalist activities etc.) She and another gentleman were the only blacks that served in that pool. She was in her 50's at the time and had only begun to work part time, but never missed voting in any election.
A newly retired friend was recently summoned to serve on the LA county GJ. An alcoholic, that has rarely voted in the 45 years she's been eligible, and has actually been called multiple times for regular jury duty. Her grand jury invitation came after she told them during a voir dire that she'd vote guilty for most any case because "if the person wasn't guilty, they wouldn't be in that situation." Thank God she was never seated and was too boozed up to properly respond to the GJ invitation.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)all sides are entitled to know about who or whom is being chosen.
jaysunb
(11,856 posts)Downwinder
(12,869 posts)LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)they would have been chosen from a much more conservative population than in the rest of NYC.
jaysunb
(11,856 posts)Does this mean conservatives are inclined to not acknowledge facts when presented to them ? or are they biased toward certain groups....or maybe they're inclined to believe, as my friend, that a person must be guilty or they would have this problem ? Or in the Garner case because it was a cop ?
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)much more conservative than the rest of the city, I believe.
jaysunb
(11,856 posts)was what was then called a "bedroom community." Blue collar union workers, ethnic Italian and very prejudiced.----Notice that I didn't refer to them as "racist's ", there's a big,big difference.-- If it's still that way, I can understand how this came to be. Unacceptable, but understood.
CK_John
(10,005 posts)commitment for 1 day a week, so you usually end up with retired, senior citizens, unemployed, business owners who can set there own hours.
AndreaCG
(2,331 posts)Manhattan has it for four weeks and only half days and you don't have to go back to work if you don't want to. But each borough is different (so much for the unified court system of NY!) so I don't know the rules for Staten Island.