Jury Duty

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Am I the only one here who actually kind of enjoyed jury duty? I was a bit nervous at first and it was certainly an inconvenience but once the trail started I kind of got it into it. It was actually pretty interesting. Sure the were horrible acts of violence described and shown in photographs but I felt a sense of detachment. The violence had been inflicted on someone else not me. It was kind of like watching a courtroom drama on TV (actually it was much more entertaining than those cheesy TV shows). Also the other jurors were fairly nice and we had some fascinating discussions in the jury room.

The OP could get into some serious legal trouble if they decided to pursue him. Penalties for ignoring jury duty summons range from fines to jail time.

Now, for a first time offender, they will probably just reschedule you. Better to get a medical note.

When I gave that advice that was only for the questionnaire. An actual summons shouldn't be ignored.

Well, if you have a meltdown, then you won't be selected for a trial.

If you have an AS diagnosis bring a doc's note with you to prove it.

If they do not exempt you right away from that then you will certainly get off it during jury selection phase.

Here's how things normally work:

You present yourself for jury duty. Usually you enter a room full of people that are all pissed off at being awake that early and can just sit quietly in a chair until they start calling people up by groups.

When they call your number they'll herd your entire group up to a courtroom where all you need to do is sit down on a bench while the lawyers and judge explain the process and then give you all a brief summary of the case.

The judge then asks if there is anyone who knows the accused or defendant personally, have any bias towards this case or any personal experience that might give you a bias (aka they don't want a rape victim being jury on a rape case) or any conditions that may prevent them from performing jury duty.

This is where you can raise your hand and explain you have AS (you have your note at hand), have high levels of social anxiety, have difficulty arguing/discussing (which jurors do when making the final decision) and that you don't think you could perform your duty under such situations.

With this, you will be sent down to the waiting room, have the clerk give you paperwork that exempts you from jury duty for one more year and then you can leave.

Be sure to ask the clerk there what you can do to get your name off the juror pool due to your condition...so that you dont get called up next year.

I would love to have jury duty.

I'm not very helpful :-p

Again, as others have said, they have to prove that you received the notice. If that happens, then you bring your doctor's note. Explaining that if you have to serve on the jury, you are likely to have a meltdown and cause a mistrial.

Actually serving on the jury would be a bit different then watching it on TV. Think about it. You could be locked up in a small room with eleven other people to deliberate for possibly weeks or even months. If you can do that, then you are very high functioning.

High praise indeed. The trial only lasted for five days and there was no lengthy deliberation. I don't suffer very much from social anxiety but I get other aspie problems and believe me, socializing is not the only thing you can get anxious about. People aren't so scary but I have other fears.

One of many problems I have is that I have a lot of difficulty making myself go somewhere all day every day for any significant length of time regardless of the consequences of not going. That was a huge problem for me in school. I had to go to family court a few times and got sent away twice over it. I don't leave the house much.

I have had several summons for jury duty,one was federal,DO NOT ignore one of those.I claimed that it was a hardship for medical and transportation issues and was removed from the list.Don't panic about it,it's not difficult to get off the list.

I should think that disclosing your medical diagnosis of being on the spectrum might well result in your being excused.

I used to have that when I was in school. Not due to social anxiety (I could either get on with the other students or ignore them) but due to demotivation and fatigue. It was worse in the winter.

I think it's easier and less stressful to just provide the information up front then play hide and seek.

I wouldn't worry about it because it is quite boring. The main struggle is, will you be able to comprehend what is going on when the prosecution is spitting out a litany of complaints faster than busta rhymes? (Spoiler: no, you won't)

I wish I had an interesting case. The only one I ever got was a petty, frivilous case that probably should have been thrown out.

Anyway, to Sylph: don't get excited. Chances are, you will sit around all day and not get a case at all. And even when they do call you, you're likely to be dismissed before anything starts. Bring a book, and a stim toy or something to fidget, lunch, snack, and expect to be sitting for a long time.

Also, make sure you check the night before to see whether your whole group has been cancelled. I think they do that half the time. Somewhere on your card with your juror number or the info they sent is probably a phone number for a recorded message or a website you can check.