If you were minding your own
business, going about your life, and someone sent you a threatening letter in
the mail -- someone you didn't know and have never met -- detailing
imprisonment and/or demanding money if you did not go somewhere (never asking
if you wanted to go, were available to go, or if it would be convenient for you
to go) and then outlined a procedure of you doing things that were against your
moral or ethical or philosophical beliefs once you got to this place, would
that be considered a heinous crime to you? Or would you consider going quietly?
What if you found out the crass
entity who wrote the threatening letter learned of your name and address due to
a breach of privacy from someone you did business with on unrelated matters,
someone trusted who tricked you into signing a written contract with tiny-print
clauses that gave full permission on your part to these intrusive,
emotionally-upsetting behaviors? Would
that make the violations to you worse in your estimation?
To add insult to injury, what if the
letter further insists, in no uncertain terms, that as an American citizen, you
should willingly obey this summoning without question as a "duty" and
if you "commit perjury" -- lie -- to get out of it (no matter the
subsequent hardships involved by going), that "offense" also will be
"punished" as though you've been sworn to fulfill an obligation and
have violated an oath in a court of law (which you obviously have not done)?
AND, it goes on... If you do NOT
respond to the letter in the manner described in a chain of specific details,
your name and address will be given to the local police in a "failure to
appear" warrant, which can be used at any time, day or night, for up to seven
years, as "justifiable cause" to take you from your home, place of
business, or from the streets, and detain you until presented to a judge for
punishment (the aforementioned jail time or financial citations) -- the very
person, at the very place, you didn't want to go and see in the first place.
There is no indication in the
letter as to what happens if the letter fails to get to you through no fault of
your own. Even if you are completely unaware of the letter's existence, never
lay eyes on it, you are still held both responsible and liable.
Almost anyone with any kind of awareness
of civil liberties would recognize immediately your rights -- layers of rights
-- had been grievously violated, outrageous crimes had been committed against
you. You are left feeling justifiably victimized, betrayed, confused, hurt,
angry, depressed and panicked. This is
not right. This happens every day. This happened to me and I am NOT happy about
it.
When you go to the California Department
of Motor vehicles to do business of any kind, your personal and private information
is given to the local county court system to be included into the potential jury
duty pool without your expressed knowledge, without explanation. The systematic release of your information
happens because in the fine print of DMV paperwork such as car registration or
renewing a driver's license is a clause allowing them to do as they please with
the information gathered, information you gave them yourself.
County governments figured out
people do not register to vote as readily they had in the past, the very source
of where juror information was historically gathered from, thereby currently limiting
the group of potential jury members. This covert system was put into place outside
voters right to accept or reject the practice.
The government just put the system in place, like it or not -- which I
do NOT. There is no place or position
designed to address criticism or correct problems associated with the entire
process.
Other governmental agencies are
barred from this and similar practices, yet, banks are required to notify the
IRS whenever someone makes a deposit of over $5,000 dollars (in a supposed
attempt from the government to curtail drug money laundering, which only
harasses legit business owners such as building contractors who deal in large
amounts of cash for materials, which is not "taxable income" but,
rather, a service in which the separate labor profit is later taxable,
resulting in contractors feeling as though they are incriminating themselves in
some way, treated as potential criminals, and having to ask clients to write
checks directly to building suppliers or write multiple checks for under the
limit line, which is messy and wholly unnecessary).
After visiting the DMV, you
receive a nasty legally-binding court document in the mail demanding you call a
phone number with an automated response on specific dates to see if you have to
somehow get yourself to a court house -- that day. They assume you have gotten the letter, read
the letter, understand the letter and have a working telephone available. They assume you will be able to comprehend a
lengthy series of instructions and directions, and are willing and capable of
complying. You are threatened jail time and/or
fines and/or legal fees if you don't follow instructions. They are kind enough
to tell you how to find information elsewhere (on-line on a computer web
address) to bus routes (my nearest bus stop is over two miles away and
typically over 100 degrees in Palm Springs).
They kindly inform you that you will get a whole seven dollars a day for
your efforts -- which could be months on end, if you end up on a murder case. They assume you are wealthy enough to take
time away from work. They threaten your
place of employment if your boss doesn't let you go. Who does that leave as jurors?
There are boxes in the letter to
check for excuses to be released from your duties, excuses which are
overly-specific and leave little wiggle room, and, further, the only way to
find out if the "excuse" was "granted" after returning
there original letter and not hearing if they received it in this
looped-letter-sending is to call on the given date provided in the letter, so
if turned down, it's too late. The lag time between calling at 7 am to be in court by 9 am is impossible to rectify when taking a bus in the Coachella
Valley
In the Coachella
Valley Indio , located at the
South-East end of the valley, meaning most people who live there will travel at
least forty-five minutes to go to the court for any reason. In San
Diego county, the courthouse is downtown, where
parking, the complex buildings layout, the homeless, and no immediate freeway
access make the experience a nightmare of confusion. There was a time when you
could simply said you couldn't afford it, sent the letter back, and that was
all there was to it -- no threats.
Recently, tele-scammers have been
calling unsuspecting citizens at all hours of the day and night, posing as IRS
agents, with the message the caller has contacted the police, who are at that moment
on their way, as the citizen has failed to pay their full amount of taxes. The scammers have gotten over five million
dollars because people have been brow-beaten by government agencies to the
point they are too scared to question authority. We do what we are told, as we are told, and
this is NOT good. The broken jury duty system is a prime example of how little
the government thinks of the very people who pay their salaries, the people
they were sworn to serve. The present court system assumes we're all wealthy to
the same degree, we're all liars, we all respond to the same fears, and we all
have to do as they say because they say so.
The fact is, the court is my
employee, all our servants -- as are police officers, Congress, and the
President -- and, if I were in charge, someone would be fired.
Secondly, no one would EVER want
me as their juror. I know NOTHING about
law, about criminology, about court procedure, nor do I care. I am no one's peer on any damned level. How could I presume someone's guilt or innocence when my own is still in question?
Pulling jurors from the general population defies logic, especially when
systematically rejecting them after going through all that hassle to get them
there in the first place. Not only is it
a stupid thing to do, it's down-right rude. This might be the greatest country
in the world, with the best system there has ever been. That doesn't mean there isn't room for
improvement and anyone who would quibble over that isn't interested in true
American justice.
Here's The Solution
According to statistics, the
population of America
is currently about 350 million people. Not every single adult is capable or
willing to be on a jury for a cascades of reason but whatever the reason is,
it's irrelevant. If a person can't or
won't be on a jury, then not being on the jury is the best solution for
everyone involved. A person who is
accused of a crime is assumed innocent until guilt is proven. Let's give potential jurors who are forced to
participate against their will the same benefit of the doubt with respect and
dignity and give them the freedom the system is supposed to defend and leave
them be. Let's change the approach.
Let's ask for volunteers from a
pool of elderly who have the time, people who have experience and wisdom in
which to judge another person's life. Let's
turn the position into a legitimate, paying, professional job with a
title. Let's pay a decent wage, educate
through training, thus giving opportunities to the Homeless and unemployed.
Asking is not demanding. Let's change the Gestapo, Big Brother tactics
immediately. Had the letter I received
said, "... a fellow American overwhelmingly needs you to help to make sure
they get a fair shake through your much-appreciated participation...", I
would be first in line.
Let's have a box that can be
checked at the DMV which asks you whether you'd like your information shared or
not, giving your expressed, informed consent.
Let's be treated as adults whose privacy is paramount.
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