California Labor and Employment Law » Misc

What Really Goes On in Jury Rooms?

Eugene Lee — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:06:07 +0000

Much of the Western world depends on a system of a jury of peers to decide the fate of litigants. Given this key role which juries play in dispensing justice, it’s amazing how little most people, and even trial lawyers, know about what really goes on in jury rooms. The jury is for all intents and purposes a black box.

This is why you may want to check out JuryExperiences.org. This is a website devoted exclusively to discussing and sharing experiences about “what really happens on juries”. If you have a jury experience to share, post about it in their forum. The news section also has lots of interesting jury-related stories.

While you’re at it, be sure to watch “Twelve Angry Men” . This is perhaps THE film about jury room drama. We should all be so lucky as to have Peter Fonda on our jury.

And finally, believe it or not, YouTube.com is also a rich, if unlikely, source of interesting jury room stories. I’ve spent hours watching people’s videos about their jury duty experiences. It’s a great way to really get into the jurors’ minds, so to speak. Unfortunately, many of the videos are rants directed at the hassle and inconvenience of jury duty. It’s unfortunate that people don’t appreciate our system of justice that permits ordinary citizens to administer justice.

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Video: Police Strip Search of Ohio Woman Called Outrageous

Eugene Lee — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:44:46 +0000

As you may know, employment law is just a subset of civil rights in general. I don’t normally cover non-workplace civil rights issues, but a news story I’ve come across seems just too egregious to let pass.

In Stark County, Ohio, 41-year old Hope Steffey was the victim of assault by a relative. Steffey’s cousin called 911 and a Stark County deputy arrived on the scene. Somehow Steffey ended up being arrested and taken to the Stark County Jail. She was then forced to lie facedown in her cell while seven male and female sheriff’s deputies stripped Steffey’s clothing from her body. A video was obtained by WKYC News which shows Steffey screaming and begging the deputies to stop as she is stripped completely naked. Warning: the video is graphic and disturbing. Steffey’s attorney alleges she was never asked to remove her clothes voluntarily and that she had to resort to wrapping herself in toilet paper in order to cover herself and stay warm overnight. When she was booked, she was allegedly given only a vest to clothe herself with.

We like to think we live in an advanced civilized society. But a single incident like this reminds us all that brutal savagery lies just beneath the surface. What makes this case worse is that the transgressors were government agents charged with protecting people. We must always be vigilant.

“Is man’s civilization only a wrappage, through which the savage nature of him can still burst, infernal as ever?”

~Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, vol III, book V, chapter 7

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Free Video Tutorials on Employment & Labor Laws

Minimum Wages around the World

Eugene Lee — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:21:04 +0000

Without further ado, I present minimum wages from around the world. I obviously didn’t include every country in the world. However, I did manage to get at least a few countries from each of the main continents. I also included California which is not technically a country, but does have the eighth largest economy in the world by GDP.

Thanks to Alexey for giving me the idea for this post.

Correction: Michael Fox of Jottings by an Employer’s Lawyer has spotted a typo in my chart. The U.S. minimum wage is $5.85 per hour, NOT $5.15 per hour. And now it’s too late for me to go back and revise the chart due to my limited technical skills. Mea culpa!

Source: Yahoo! News

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