<p>I was called for jury duty my junior year at Mount Holyoke, also in Hampshire County, even though my legal residence was in California and I was actually studying in France om a junior year abroad program at the time. That got me out of serving.</p>
<p>If all else fails, dress like a hippie. That was the advice from a lawyer friend of mine. Lawyers sometimes want college kids, but no one wants a hippie.</p>
<p>I was on jury duty as possible selection , and the judge said if you were attending college full time you were dismissed . Apparently these students still had to show up to be excused . This was Essex County , NJ .</p>
<p>S was called both at home and at college town! His license is in home state. Files tax return in college state, maybe that is how he got on list. Got home duty dismissed by proving too far away, just had to write a note in advance. Had to serve in college town.</p>
<p>Son was called to jury duty in Boston during the school year (we are from PA) and went. He just lost a morning.</p>
<p>Daughter got called to jury duty during the school year. She asked to defer it until the summer when she was working, and her employer would have had to let her go. As it often turns out, she never had to actually go in. IMHO, teaching your kid how to get out of jury duty is a disservice to him/her and the country. Jury duty is a civic responsibility, and they will learn a lot from it even if they never serve, especially if they want to become lawyers. I learned a lot from the one day I spent in downtown Los Angeles Superior Court, mostly that the whole experience was not what I would call superior.</p>
<p>I figure if my oncologist can do her jury duty, so can my college student.</p>
<p>Out here in California, D received a Jury Duty summons from the court in her home county. It came the day after she returned to campus. Campus is a 3 hr car ride or an 8 hr greyhound bus ride away. Our jury selection system has the summoned call after 4:30 p.m. the evening before to determine if they need to report. They can be instructed to appear at 8:00 a.m. the next day, or to call again at 12:00 the next day to see if they need to report for the ‘afternoon’ shift. She lives on campus …in other words, it’s not possible for D to report. As for a postponement - D is working during spring break pursuing a opportunity abroad for the summer…so also not an option. She had also been advised to submit her voter registration in the county of the campus (where a short JD stint might be manageable) to avoid this type of problem. </p>
<p>After spending a restless night trying to figure out how to manage this I went to the court house this morning to plead her case. WOW…as I passed security I explained to the 3 deputies the nature of my visit. They looked at me like I had a second head! In unison two instructed me to ‘just throw it away’. When I explained my concern about a possible bench warrant for non-response/non appearance I again received the ‘she’s got two heads’ look. It doesn’t happen! Seeing my discomfort with situation they suggested I go to the office of judges chambers. There, the very nice receptionist gave me the ‘you have two heads’ look and stated that if D is NOT LIVING AT HOME then simply write ‘return to sender’ on the summons envelope. Repeat this process as long as she is not living at the home address.</p>
<p>As the child of two immigrant parents who value this country beyond what most native born individuals do, I consider jury duty a responsibility for each and every citizen…however, it must come at a time when the interruption is manageable and does not cause great financial harm (such as failing courses which need to be retaken, loss of minimum wage income etc). Both DH and I will serve whenever summoned. However, IMHO it is really not possible for a student to serve with a clear mind.</p>
<p>Didn’t read it all (this time), but here in California, college kids going to school in other states DO get called and ARE expected to show up, but they can reschedule one time, to do it during a time they are at home. My D is registered to vote 3000 miles away, got called, rescheduled to last Christmas or summer break, scheduled for three days before the break ended, and after calling in the eves to see if her number was “up”, on the second day was released</p>
<p>I totally get why its; hard for students, but with all due respect to them, I have a solo medical practice, and when I get called, I have to cancel dozens of patients, and sometimes can’t fit them back in within a reasonable time frame. Same happens to my husband, with a LOT more patients, although he is an employed physician, and can have someone else cover, and/or make all those calls. </p>
<p>He still doesn’t get paid. </p>
<p>Aside from the major loss of income, that disrupts an awful lot of peoples schedule. I pity the person who comes to him for a jury excuse in the wake of HIS jury duty!</p>
<p>I’ve been under the assumption that doctors can easily get out of jury duty as Judges will respect the health needs of patients. No reason for a doctor to serve unless they want to.</p>
<p>Not true for my family. At least no notice has come with that as an option. </p>
<p>I used to think there is no way a psychiatrist couldn’t act crazy enough to get released…not the case!</p>
<p>Okay, I haven’t tried acting crazy…</p>
<p>My son was called to jury duty last summer. I felt that he was “on easy street” in dealing with the situation because he was home from college. </p>
<p>At that time he was taking a class at the local cc and also was working nearly full time. He was being called to be a potential juror for a trial that they said was going to go on for weeks and they said he would need to be available if it went on for longer than anticipated (I no longer recall how many weeks). When it was his turn to go in front of the judge and lawyers he told the judge that he was a poor full time college student relying on an hourly wage to survive during the school year. The judge, at his discretion, released him from being a potential juror for that particular case (doubt any lawyer would have picked my son at that point anyway), and he sat for another potential case that day which never happened. I don’t think that he will be called again for at least 3 years.</p>
<p>While I agree that JD is difficult for any self employed individual - esp. so for those like physicians whose absence affects many others - I still stand by my opinion that it is inappropriate for FT college students to be called. As as self employed individuals DH and I have the option and ability to implement a workable schedule. In addition, the loss of income is a small portion of total income in comparison to what a FT student would be earning. </p>
<p>Students are quite often involved in group projects. It is hard to envision a workable higher education system which will rearrange group schedules, profs forced to stay after end of semester to proctor late finals, accept late work etc. In DD case, she would have had to leave her campus for at least a week. In addition, if she were selected on the Friday of the week she may very well have missed 2 or more weeks. This is just not workable. How about we make JD mandatory with in 1 year of graduation…pick your jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Frankly, if I were ever in a position to trust my fate to 12 individuals I would like to have the reasonable expectation that the 12 selected are not fuming at their situation and thus inclined to just end the process quickly.</p>
<p>I don’t expect to ever get called to Jury Duty given the way they are closing courthouses around here.</p>
<p>My daughter got her second jury duty notice in November (her first had come two summers ago while she was overseas which she managed to reschedule to Christmas and then didn’t have to go in) and went in on 12/27. There were loads of kids from her HS there and the judge took the different school schedules into consideration (maybe his kid is a college student?) Anyway, most of them were dismissed but my daughter assumes she’ll be asked to come in this summer. I was quite happy at the outcome because I really didn’t want her to miss any of her final semester of school…</p>