2007-11-26

When Will I Get to Stop Paying? Oh Yeah. Never.

Jury Duty.
AGAIN.

This is the second time in 3 years and honestly, I don't mind a little civic duty here and there.
I have no problem doing my part once in awhile.

My problem is that in a city of a million people, why is my number coming up so soon after it came up the last time?
And isn't there some kind of black mark on my head because of a dui?
There's a black mark for everything else you can think of as a result of .086 several years ago but as it turns out, not when a city needs people to sit in a large, drafty room and be annoyed with one another while waiting to have some public servant lead you Kindergarten-style through the Halls of Justice while reciting the rules for what will happen when you actually go in the courtroom to be interviewed (or not) by the main characters.

And here's the rub: Chances are great that I will sit there all day long and somewhere near 3, I'll be led to a courtroom.
Where I will sit through the droning speeches of the judge.
And I will eventually raise my hand and approach the main characters to explain to them that I could probably not be fair to the side of justice if the case is a misdemeanor dui or if it is a college kid.
Why?
Because good people get ruined by the penal system and unless the crime is egregious or repetitive then I see no reason to bust some kid into jail over his tiny bit of pot and I certainly don't see any reason for someone in a situation similar to the one I was in have the future ruined the way mine is ruined.
I know it's the law.
I know the penal system is the problem.
But the fact of it is this:
When you break the law and you do your punishment and you pay your money and you take your classes or go to jail or whatever it is you have to do... when all of that is done, you are nowhere nearer to societal exoneration then you were at the moment of your arrest.
You will be punished forever.
That is not okay with me.
The balance of a young person's future is greater than the current debt.
There is no way I would ever, EVER make someone in a similar situation be marked forever like I am.

So yeah, I'll sit there all day long and hopefully, I will get a chance to raise my hand and go explain my position and why it is that I am far from the day when I would not resent being on a jury because of how hypocritical and dangerous I feel our current criminal justice system is.

You're not innocent until proven guilty. If you are in court, only your defense attorney looks at you like you are a human, like you MIGHT understand that YOU are not the problem but that what you did or did not do is the problem.

You're not ever done being punished. I refuse to go into detail about this but... you are never, ever, ever, ever done being punished if you've been convicted of even a misdemeanor.

So sitting all day long and waiting for the inevitable end-of-the-day call and then sitting and waiting through the actual selection process and then resisting the urge to turn into a complete lunatic and go all wild-haired and primal while ranting about the criminal justice system being a total sham for like, 75% of people who are charged with any law breakage isn't exactly high on the list of things I want to be doing.

Plus, with my luck, I'll sit there all day long and get called to be on a jury for a trial starting the next day.
A day on which I have a major project at work commencing.

My luck is so bad that at the dog park the other day, Rosie and this much bigger dog had a mid-air collision as they were chasing separate balls.
Rosie flew about 4 feet in the air and landed on her neck under the other, bigger dig.
She seems to be fine.

Naturally, the other dog had a seizure.

According to the owner, the dog usually does have seizures so it wasn't a direct product of the accident but still... of all the big dogs she could smash at top-speed, she would have to nail the one with an inexplicable seizure disorder.
Duh.

Speaking of Rosie, God I love my dog.
She's the port in my daily storm and when it's all said and done, my friend was right when she said, that you don't lack for much if you've got a good dog.

arizonasarah at 3:41 p.m.

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