A peek into the criminal justice system.

A few weeks ago, I received a jury summons. Today was the day I had to attend court. I arrived by 9:00am gave them my name, etc. There were about 130 people there packed into wooden benches a fair bit tighter than most sacrament meetings. After a while they did roll call to confirm the absence of a few prospective jurors. They gave those names to the Sheriff who was to go and arrest those people. I was glad I went! Anyway, we waited for about 2 hours until the judge, lawyers and the accused came in. (Apparently efficiency is just as important to the justice system as the medical system). The accused was arraigned...and pleaded not guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of assault. Then jury selection started. The names of 10 prospective jurors were called at a time...drawn randomly from a bingo-style machine. Each of the ten had to stand before the lawyers who were either "content" with the choice or "challenged" it. Unlike on runaway jury, there was no interview with the juror...just kind of a yes/no decision by the lawyers who knew nothing about the juror except what the person looked like and his/her occupation. After the first ten people had been called, and five of them selected, another group of ten came forward. A few people were excused for being friends with the accused, a lawyer, a witness, etc. One woman was excused because she was scheduled for surgery. Before the last of the third group of ten had stepped forward, a jury, including two alternates was in place. My name was never called and I, along with 116 others were free to go. Before the selection, after we had been waiting in the stuffy room for over 2 hours, they brought in the accused a 50ish clean cut white male. I found it interesting that they immediately brought him a glass of water. Someone next to me commented about how this was one more example of how the criminals are treated better than the citizenry in Canada. Nevertheless, I am grateful to live in a country with respect for rule of law and where anyone accused of a crime has the right to be judged by a jury of peers. I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to fulfill an important responsibility as a citizen of a democratic country. I am equally happy that the lot did not fall to me this time...