Hanging at 850 Bryant - Hall of Justice

Last week, I had the privilege of performing my civil duty and answered my summons for jury duty at

850 Bryant Street

.  I came with no excuses.  I tried to put myself in the shoes of the accused, recognizing that trial by jury of one’s peers is a fundamental democratic ideal of our legal system.

There have been changes since I last served.  The system is now 1-day or 1 trial.  They try to bring potential jurors in for a single day for jury selection.  If you aren’t needed, you are excused until you are then eligible to be called in one year.  If you are selected as a juror, you serve until the trial is over.

Last week was Jury Appreciation Week.  The court made the effort to educate prospective jurors in the ideals that make our justice system work. They also gave us pens, bookmarks, refrigerator magnets and cookies.  Boy, did I feel special!

As part of the education process, we were informed of these statistics:  In 2006 in

San Francisco

, some 180,000 jurors responded to their summons for jury duty.  Of those, approximately 42% completed service in person by reporting to the Court for one or more days of service.  Jurors were impaneled for approximately 570 criminal cases at the Hall of Justice and 495 civil cases at the Civic Center Courthouse.

Besides being my duty as a citizen, I found this was an opportunity to contribute to the workings of justice in my community.  And, I enjoyed several lunch breaks, and shopping expeditions in wonderful SOMA!