Quantcast

Jury Duty Becomes A Popular Gig For The Unemployed

2009_09_gavel.jpg

With the job market remaining stagnant, more unemployed New Yorkers are volunteering for jury duty. "People are calling up, saying, 'Look, I lost my job; now would be a good time for me to serve,'" Vincent Homenick, chief clerk of the jury division for Manhattan, told the Post. "Not that $40 will pay the bills, but it's something." The unemployed aren't the only New Yorkers eager to get into the courthouse — a group of seniors dubbed "junkies for justice" travel across the city to attend the most interesting trials. Legal enthusiasts like Benjamin Rosen, 95, would rather spend their days watching real life episodes of Matlock "than watching TV soaps or playing bridge," the paper notes. "There's tension in the air," said Rosen. "It's like seeing an action movie. I like to decipher what's lies and what's true. And the courtroom is very nice and air-conditioned in the summer."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Ben Muessig in on November 16, 2009 10:05 AM

Comments [rss]

  • JacqueMehoff

    so that's why I haven't been called.

    usually I get to serve like clockwork. not this time.

  • Spirit of 76

    Could full-time, paid, professional juries be any worse than a jury of our "peers"? I think I'd rather have people who have proven in past cases that they can weigh the facts logically and do the job right rather than considering this some kind of interruption in their normal lives. There's no accountability for the amateurs we have right now. They can do whatever they want then go back to their regular lives in obscurity. Look at the Junior Gotti juror, not to mention the entire jury in the first OJ Simpson trial.

  • jt10000

    Good question movi.



    I think we need a national service work program like the WPA. I wish our government thought big and did something like that to improve the physical infrastructure, document out society, etc.

  • movi

    If you're on Unemployment, do they count your days on jury duty as days working?

  • hotstepper

    matlock reference bonus!

  • maevemealone

    My father has encouraged me for years to attend mob trials. He insists they are the best show in town.

  • That's actually awesome. Whatever, call me a sucker for civics, but right on!

  • EastRiver

    Just don't volunteer for jury duty Federal Court. You might end up on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial for six months.

  • schadenfreudian mensch

    The average now in finding a new job is about a year or two so six months in a Fed jury sounds cushy.

  • potsmoker

    20 calls since May says the chief clerk for juries in Manhattan....a god damm tsumani of newsworthy inquiries

blog comments powered by Disqus
Home

send a tip

tips@gothamist.com

about

staff / advertising / contact / newsmap

newsmap

newsmap