Tavish McGregor

HUMA 1100
Kim Anderson
December 8th, 2015
Jury Duty: A Civic Engagement Project
I had the fortunate responsibility of serving on jury duty for my civic engagement project.
It was a two-day trial that took place from November 18th through the 20th where a persons
ultimate fate hung in the balance, waiting to be decided by eight strangers. This responsibility is
one of the main institutions of our criminal justice system, that a person has the right to a fair
trial in front of a jury of their peers. Even though I felt extremely inconvenienced by being
chosen to serve on the jury in the end I felt good about it.
My participation as a juror gave me a better insight as to how our justice system works,
and also left with a sense of satisfaction that I help promote, quite literally, the freedom of
another individual who I previously knew nothing about. There was more on the line in this
particular case than just the defendants criminal record, the outcome also affected whether or not
she would be able to remain in the United States, a place she had called home for 20 years. There
was quite a bit of evidence presented by the prosecution as to why we should convict the
defendant, but it all came down to the ultimate deciding factor, reasonable doubt. As a jury of
eight strangers decided the fate of the defendant we did indeed come to the conclusion that there
was reasonable doubt that the defendant was not guilty of aggravated assault, so she was found
not guilty.
At first when I was selected to actually serve on a jury I felt very inconvenienced by the
whole thing. I also feel that this is the consensus among my peers. When I would tell people that

I was selected for jury duty I would usually get a response along the lines of Im sorry, or
That sucks. However, I ultimately found the responsibility to be rather enjoyable, albeit
somewhat inconvenient. It was rather satisfying to know that I was able to participate in our
justice system, and help to deliver what I felt was fair justice. This experience gave me a deeper
appreciation for the American justice system. Although it is inconvenient to be selected for jury
duty I think it was a very valuable experience. Although our justice system is not perfect by any
means I feel more so now than ever before that it is indeed more fair than others. Especially in
places where there is no jury or other processes in place to protect defendants rights.