I got called up for Jury Duty a few years back. During the height of Covid. We had to wear masks in the court, in the jury room, in the building, etc. We only unmasked to eat, some of us in the Jury room, others in a park nearby.
The case I was on ended in a hung jury. The judge's words are the only thing that struck me "you must be convinced beyond all reasonable doubt". For me, a highly analytical person - there was plenty of reasonable doubt - not just from the defense's case, but also for the gaps in that defense the prosecutor didn't open.
At one point, the case for the prosecution asked a line of questioning that had answers of "yes" for the defendant - except, when he said "no", to one - she didn't stop, she kept asking the follow up questions that would require a yes to any prior question in her chain.
The passion and pride in her voice even escalated in a theatrical manner as she did this. It was only four questions later, her, perhaps lost in an elevated stage in her mind - that she realised, and rescinded that entire line of questioning.
The one thing I observed, and the one thing I learned - the process doesn't respect anyone's time. It had been something like 10 years since the alleged events.
That's wild for somebody presumably on a massive paycheck after decades of education in the field... I feel like incompetence generally has spread much more far and wide than we all appreciate... Another reason to be cautious about the systems in place.
Not that I have a solution...
I can apply this to the entire British services of any kind, tbh. Waiting 18 months to 2 years for life saving surgery, backlogs in all forms of stuff going back in queues of millions of people... No surprise why people are on the streets protesting right now more than any time I've ever seen
The prosecutor was fairly young, probably 2-3 years into her tenure, but still, I wasn't the only one in the jury box who noticed.
I wasn't even the most educated person in that jury. We had school teachers (x2!) an engineer, a paramedic, a doctor, a mechanic who was hilarious and I got along with very well, and a bunch of other forgetful faces, because they were mostly behind masks.
Oh oh! Public Service(s)! That reminds me about the ordeal I had with the Post office recently that I WILL turn into a post. I will write it in a very satirical and irritated manner, but only because that is the only way to cope with such systemic failure.
The issue still isn't resolved, even though I provided them with all the required paperwork. I will... write that shortly, and publish it ... in the future. (I have such a queue of things ... queued, and I don't want to mess with the order!
I often go and read the sentencing remarks - if I need a cure for my insomnia - and they're sometimes hilarious, particularly when beyond from the legalese and procedural prose, comes a heckle from the gallery or the prisoner, and the language goes from formal to cutting profanity.
Haha this is my favourite kind of read - a good old rant about the state of things XD
Will pop by to read if I haven't died by then from overheating (A/C isn't working at work.. .37C every day)
I hope you survive not only this day, but the rest of the days. I have stuff scheduled up for like... the next ten days at this rate. I have TOO MANY WORDS.
They are chasing me, always. But I kind of like it.