Fewer People Willing to Miss Work to Sit on Juries

With unemployment topping 10 percent and many existing jobs precarious, fewer people are willing to miss work for jury duty, court watchers say.

Jury consultants and courtroom administrators report the ongoing recession is causing more potential jurors, especially ones facing long trials, to try to opt out by filing hardship claims, according to The Los Angeles Times.

"The economic situation has really put attorneys and judges in an awkward position of having to say to someone who is the sole wage earner in a family or someone who is self-employed and doesn't get paid when they don't work that they have to serve, and we have more and more of those," jury consultant Jaine E. Fraser told the newspaper.

In some cases, so many people are reluctant to serve that lawyers are scrapping jury trials all together and leaving cases up to judges.

To deal with the problem, courthouses in Los Angeles County have ordered stricter scrutiny of jurors claiming financial, medical and child-care problems, the Times reported. The county is also tightening the rules for people who simply don't show up for jury duty, imposing fines up to $1,500.