Is there any way I can get out of jury duty?

NightTimeForever

Well-known member
Just got a summons for jury duty, is there any way out of it? I'd call my psychologist, but I'm not sure if I would need an appointment first since I haven't seen him in a while.
 

Section_31

Well-known member
I'm not sure about where you are, but in Canada you basically can say you'll be out of town on holiday or for work and you can't do so. 9/10 that will get you excused.
 

MollyBeGood

Well-known member
I would take jury duty right now I need the cash. My ex got out of it a few times by claiming it would cause undue financial hardship-the court house was too far, cost of gas, loose a client since we were self-employed if he had to go so it was really not an option. He got out of it twice actually. Or IDK...You can go and when they try to select you can act really crazy then you will not be selected? I think that works too :)
 

NightTimeForever

Well-known member
Well, I'm unemployed and take online classes, so I'm not sure if that's a valid excuse. I'm about to turn in my acknowledgement of the summons, is this binding if I do "and will appear in court" (below you put signature).
 
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Kiwong

Well-known member
Last two times I have had to attend the courthouse. A medical certificate saying you are unfit to attend should be sufficient. There is an opportunity to write reasons why you should be excused, which the judge assesses and approves or rejects. Both times I have been excused, once I was travelling Sydney, on another occasion I used work reasons, and also my anxiety as reasons. The trouble is I remain on the jury roll, and am likely to get another summons. If you go throught to the jury selection ballot and don't make it onto the jury, then you won't be summoned again for up to ten years.
 

rosewood

Well-known member
i heard someone say their dad used this excuse and it worked for him, but it is truly awful and i don't reccomend it.

go to the summons, and when they start asking questions about you and what kind of person you are, make sure you say something about how they should shoot first and then let God sort it out later, or that he was in favor of hanging. (ugh!!!!) apparantly it worked, and he got out of jury duty. this was in texas.


on a more realistic level:
...get a doctors note explaining your panic attacks will disrupt the proceedings...
 
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Isolated_Writer

Well-known member
Rather funny story though not very useful since it takes a certain amount of confidence so do this but anyway, my aunt used to be able to get out of jury duty by pretending to be a hippie. She would dress the part and say all sorts of biased nonsense. Always worked.
 

paintedblue

Well-known member
i heard someone say their dad used this excuse and it worked for him, but it is truly awful and i don't reccomend it.

go to the summons, and when they start asking questions about you and what kind of person you are, make sure you say something about how they should shoot first and then let God sort it out later, or that he was in favor of hanging. (ugh!!!!) apparantly it worked, and he got out of jury duty. this was in texas.


on a more realistic level:
...get a doctors note explaining your panic attacks will disrupt the proceedings...

yea pretty much you gotta make them think you're biased/racist/bigoted/short fused/quick to judge. Say you can tell if someone is guilty by just looking at them.
 

xDreamseller

Well-known member
I would try and get excused due to medical reasons first, with a note from your doctor or something first. If that doesn't work, try one of the other approaches.
 

razzle dazzle rose

Well-known member
A note from your therapist should get you out. I had a jury duty summons two summers ago. I went and was panicky the whole time hoping they wouldn't call my name. They didn't. I didn't feel like making up a crazy persona either. While there I made a friend (she never did want to hang out later, but we kept in touch for a bit).
 

nightcrawler

Well-known member
I live in the UK and have been asked to Jury duty twice. Both times I told them the truth and got excused - I have social anxiety and that I would be so anxious that I would not be able to concentrate on the case - this should be reason enough to get you excused.
 
I'm not sure about where you are, but in Canada you basically can say you'll be out of town on holiday or for work and you can't do so. 9/10 that will get you excused.

Not if you're in the U.S. It specifically says on the summons that work is not a valid excuse to miss and your employer can't penalize you for missing work to attend jury duty.

Mine was supposed to be this past February but I postponed it until June, so it'll be here soon. I'm kind of looking forward to it, never had it before.
 

mismeek

Well-known member
Just tell them that you dont think you would be able to make an unbiased decision based on (insert topic here).
 

Pookah

Well-known member
In New Jersey, USA at least you can fill out a card to send back. I put reason I could not attend as "social anxiety" and that was enough.
 

GraybeardGhost

Well-known member
I was summoned in February of last year. I could have gone in a month ahead of time to ask to be excused (in North Carolina, you have to appear in person to ask), but I didn't think it would do any good. I didn't think they would believe my excuse, and besides, I had been summoned twice before but reprieved at the last minute when they didn't need as many jurors as they had expected. I thought my luck would hold this time, too, but it didn't, and I had to go in.

It was a social anxiety sufferer's nightmare: confined in a hot, stifling room with about a hundred other people, all strangers, for about an hour, until we were herded up to the courtroom to face the selection process. My anxiety level was through the roof.

They called the first dozen people, and I breathed a sigh of relief, as my name was not among those called. However, they then began to interrogate the jurors, and one by one, half of them were dismissed. Then they called six more, and again, half of them were let go. I could feel my luck running out through my white-knuckled fingers, and sure enough, when the next group of names were called out, mine was the first.

How I managed to walk from the hard wooden bench where I had been seated all the way up to the jury box at the front of the room without collapsing from sheer panic, I will never know, but somehow I managed to do it. Once there, I was ordered by the judge to introduce myself and tell the court a bit about my background: work, how long I had lived here, previous jury experience, etc. Somehow, mostly by the grace of adrenaline, I suppose, I managed to do that, too. Finally, he asked me the big question: was there any reason why I couldn't serve. I was compelled by honesty (one should never lie to a judge) to say that there was not, but that my ADD, OCD, and bipolar disorder would make me unable to follow the evidence presented in the case, and thus I would be a poor choice for the jury. All this I had to announce out loud to a courtroom full of strangers. The judge agreed and excused me, after which I went back down to the jurors' waiting room and very nearly passed out.

In all, it was a terrifying and humiliating ordeal, one I hope never to have to repeat. To this day, I still get panicky whenever I think about it. The entire experience, from the wording of the summons itself to the courthouse, with its armed guards and metal detectors, its sweatbox of a waiting room, even the architecture of the building and the judge's black robe, is designed to intimidate. It is meant to send a very clear and simple message to the innocent as well as the guilty: "We are bigger than you, and if you do not bow to our will, we will squash you like a bug."

Yeah, I'm more than a little paranoid, alongside all the other stuff, and it colors my world in very dark shades sometimes. I'm sure not all jury experiences are like mine was. My first time, twenty-some years ago, was nothing like this; it was just remarkably dull. However, my advice to anyone who receives a summons and feels unable to serve due to SA or any other valid reason is to tell them about it at the earliest opportunity and get excused if you can, thereby sparing yourself future distress. Better a small dose of misery now than an unbearable trauma later on.
 
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Wow Graybeard, sorry it was such a bad experience for you.

Personally I don't think jury duty sounds scary, but then everyone is different and we all have differing levels of anxiety.

I honestly don't think the metal detectors and guards are intended to intimidate but rather simply to protect (it is a courthouse after all), and the black robe is just a tradition. It's dignified and somber-looking. But again, I do see how they could be intimidating, especially to people with really severe anxiety. I worked at an airport and saw that stuff all the time, and... let's just say I'm weird with that sort of thing, it doesn't freak me out more than it fascinates me. It feels surreal and cinematic to me. Maybe that's no better than being terrified of it, but... *shrug*

What would bother ME most would be a cranky or rude judge. I'd probably be oblivious to his robe and just be unnerved by the look on his face and tone of his voice :p I guess that's just how my anxiety works.

/tangent over
 
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nightcrawler

Well-known member
Wow Graybeard, sorry it was such a bad experience for you.

Personally I don't think jury duty sounds scary, but then everyone is different and we all have differing levels of anxiety.

I honestly don't think the metal detectors and guards are intended to intimidate but rather simply to protect (it is a courthouse after all), and the black robe is just a tradition. It's dignified and somber-looking. But again, I do see how they could be intimidating, especially to people with really severe anxiety. I worked at an airport and saw that stuff all the time, and... let's just say I'm weird with that sort of thing, it doesn't freak me out more than it fascinates me. It feels surreal and cinematic to me. Maybe that's no better than being terrified of it, but... *shrug*

What would bother ME most would be a cranky or rude judge. I'd probably be oblivious to his robe and just be unnerved by the look on his face and tone of his voice :p I guess that's just how my anxiety works.

/tangent over

The problem for a lot of SA sufferers (myself included) is that any NEW experience they aren't used to would be enough in itself to elevate their anxiety considerably. Throw in "official" settings and people like a court & judge, then the thought of having to deliberate with other jurors over the verdict...all this can be scary to people with SA, and understandably so.
 
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