jury duty and a.s

Vaila

I have just been called to serve jury duty, and the prospect is terrifying. I dont now how to approach this as i havent been called before, it was mentioned on the form that you could be exemt due to medical reasons etc, so do i need to call my doctor to get a letter for him, send off my dla statement etc

I know im probably over reacting but the prospect of having to stand in court (after some horrid tribunal experiences) is making me in true aspie fashion..lose the plot .

any advice welcomed
thanks x

dmg24

Yes, you are going to need to get a letter from your GP if you feel you should be exempt. Aspergers in itself is not grounds for exemption, I actually think an aspie would make an excellent juror, but you may be exempt based on your own situation.

Jock221

Hi I was called last year it was daunting but you only turn up on the mornings they tell you and if you are not picked your free to go you could be lucky and not have a case at all they could swear in a jury for case that lasts weeks and by then your time would be up. You can get out of it on health grounds but they are pretty strict.if your GP sends in a letter that should be sufficient.

robpw2

whats dury duty ? do you have to pretend to be ian all day ...
as for jury duty , you will be fine- most of the time you will not be needed and they will provide support if your traumatized by a case

pipkin71

dmg24 wrote: »

Yes, you are going to need to get a letter from your GP if you feel you should be exempt. Aspergers in itself is not grounds for exemption, I actually think an aspie would make an excellent juror, but you may be exempt based on your own situation.

I didn't need a letter from my GP when I applied for exemption, DMG.

I just filled in the form telling them why I felt I couldn't do jury duty and sent it off. They wrote back saying that I would be excluded from it.

nannytone_2

same here pipkin. i just filled in the form and said that as i was registered blind, it'd be almost impossible for me to travel to a location i didnt know during the rush hour.
they replied saying i was permenantly exempt.

Sublime_2

I personally would not liked to be called up for jury duty, and would do whatever it took to be excused. Just me though.

Swan_2

my Aspie son was sent a letter saying he was on the list of potential jurors

I rang the court & they told me to send the form back with an explanation & he wouldn't be called, no doctor's letter was needed


there's no way he could sit on a jury, he sees everything as black & white & will pedantically argue his point even when faced with irrefutable evidence against it

he'd probably end up in the cells himself for contempt of court!

seven-day-weekend

My son who has AS has been a juror and helped weigh the evidence.

I actually think being on the spectrum made him a better juror, as he could be objective about the evidence and also cared about justice being done.

He found it an interesting experience.

Dippypud

Hi,

Same as Seven day weekend, my son has AS, he was called for jury service in October last year.

It went well, we explained what would happen and that it wasn't like the US telly programmes.

If you think it would help you may 'phone the court and ask if you may sit in the Public Gallery.

This may give you some insight into what happens and how you would cope.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

colin13

I suffer from MS ,,and I got called up to jury duty,,I phoned the contact number on the letter and explained my situation,,the nice lady on the other end of the phone said ok,and has taken my name off,the register of people who can get called for jury duty,,she was very pleasant,,no problem at all