[jury duty.query]

[wispfox]

[also posted to ljgenie]

I've been summonsed for jury duty in ~1.5 months.

I suspect strongly that my difficulty with processing large chunks of spoken words will make me... somewhat unsuited for such a thing. I don't, however, have any proof of this problem.

Do I just tell them about my concerns, and let them make the decision? Or is there something else I ought to be doing?

I'm perfectly willing to try to go ahead and be on a jury. But I note that I have difficulty with meetings (generally ~1 hour long) if I can't take notes and play a game on my Palm, and even with _those_ aids, I'm exhausted after about 1.5-2 hours. And the pamphlet says I should expect to need to pay close attention for somewhere around 6 hours.

If I'm lucky, I won't be called for any trials, and it won't come up. If not, though, I have a strong suspicion that jury duty would entail the least pleasant and most exhausting mental activity I could possibly be doing, and will make me unfit for human company during the entire time I'm doing it.

I've never before needed proof of this problem, as I'm very good at avoiding situations in which it would come up. So I don't have any. And, much as I'm sure my mother (a school psych) would probably be willing to write something explaining the problem, she's related to me. So probably wouldn't be an acceptable source of such information.

Comments

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

If you can't get out of it completely another option is to ask to be put on Grand Jury duty instead of the regular jury. Typically standard jury duty is every day for a week or two. Grand jury duty, at least here in NH, meets once a month for ~ 6 months. I'm not sure if that would be any better for you but now you know it is an option. I remember my father taking that option once as it was easier for him to take one day off a month for six months or so instead of being out of work all at once.

[brynndragon.livejournal.com]

My own experience in MA was going for a single day, reading a book, and then going home. We don't have "come in every day for a week", unless you get put on a trial, in which case you're there for the duration of the trial (be it a day or a month). So I don't think this would really be useful for this particular issue.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Ah, that is different then my experience in NH. Please ignore what I said then.