Trial By Jury By Conscription

A while back both my wife and I were summoned for jury service. I had my wife call and see if I could be excused because it would put a financial burden on us since I earn the sole income for my family. Of course I already knew that that would not be considered to be a legitimate excuse in the eyes of the government’s judicial system. At any rate she did manage to have mine postponed. She had gotten excused previously due to her vision problem and not being able to drive. Since then she has had surgery and can now see well enough to drive. Anyway, she was recently summoned again so she went to the court house for her appointment.

The first time I got a notice in the mail for jury duty I had an immediate response of I can’t afford to take off for jury duty plus I just don’t want to do it. My employer does provide for some compensation but at the time I thought it was only about half of what I normally earn and I knew that jury pay was usually very little.

My first reaction was how can a country that calls itself the bastion of freedom conscript people to be jurors against their will and create a hardship for them as well? One fellow I work with conveyed that, to him it was just necessary that the system work this way to achieve the best outcome for true justice. I thought that was bologna of course.

As a libertarian and as a human being I find coercion by threat of violence repugnant and my immediate compulsion is to push back. It amazes me how so many people don’t understand that when the government says “do what we say or else” that, that government is in fact tyrannical. Just because someone thinks something is necessary doesn’t give them the right to force others, who do not think that thing is necessary, to do it under threat of violence.

I have determined that if I am called again I will go to my appointment and this is what I will say to the judge:

Mr. Judge, I do not believe it is right or just for the courts to compel citizens to be jurors by threatening them with jail and or fines, charging them with contempt of court just because they don’t want to serve on a jury? What really is contemptuous is a state that believes it is the duty of the citizen to serve and therefore the state has the right to compel them by whatever means necessary, including violence. How can that citizen be considered in any manner free?

Mr. Judge, have you or the lawyers or any other employees of the court been conscripted in their ancillary role in the justice system or do you all do it of your own free wills and for payment that you feel is commensurate to your labors? Why then are those who serve as what the government seems to indicate are most vital to achieving a just outcome conscripted and forced to served for what amounts to lunch money?

Sir, conscription is slavery and the last time I checked the 13th Amendment was still in the Constitution. I therefore, do not believe a justice system that condones slavery is capable of meting out true justice. Conscription in any form is abominable and contrary to the natural law that individuals must surely own themselves. A man owns his body, mind and soul and is not the property of the state and therefore cannot be conscripted to do the will of the state and still be called free since these are obviously mutually exclusive concepts.

So, that’s how I feel about it. I’m sure there a many people that are apathetically resigned to the idea that the state can do such things and there’s nothing we can do about it. Or maybe they believe that there’s no other way but that’s where they are wrong. There’s no reason whatsoever that government should have a monopoly on meting out justice. It is, in fact, because they do have a monopoly that so much injustice prevails in the courts today.

There is no reason that willing jurors could not be hired and paid a competitive wage just as all the rest of those involved in the system are getting. It’s called the free market and it’s much more just than the unconstitutional and immoral method of involuntary servitude.

An article at Mises.org by Dominick Armentano talks more about jury duty and explains more about how a free market alternative would work. Check it out here: https://mises.org/library/jury-duty

I would implore you to read such books as For A New Liberty by Murray Rothbard or other of his works where you will learn about the alternatives to the coercive, violent, government run systems we live under today.

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