3 Reasons America’s Got Talent Judges Should Revamp the Judicial System
Volunteering for civic duty is honorable and rewarding. You get to spend your time giving back to your community. People genuinely appreciate your support. These are ideal opportunities at the high end of the giving scale, the feel-good scale.
There also is that obligatory civic duty that triggers a pain point for a lot of people. This isn’t so much an opportunity as it is a requirement. Society calls it jury duty. I call it humiliation. It’s at the high end of the energy zapping scale. A Department of Motor Vehicles data base is the driving force supplying the court system with potential jurors.
Some of you are reading this because you been summoned, and you want to get out of it. It might be against your religion. It might challenge your relationship with your boss. It might create a financial hardship. You might also be reluctant to serve because you believe attorneys, judges and expert witnesses don’t respect your time.
If you don’t show up, you are in contempt of court. You can be fined and possibly stay a few days in the slammer. So, leftfielders need to devise a way to make jury duty fun by transforming a system into one in which everyone wins, and everyone is viewed as stellar. It might not be logical to some of you – but neither are some of the laws jurors are required to uphold.
Before I reveal my plan for a better system, there is good news from representatives with Barprephero.com, a business that helps law students prepare for the bar exam. The Barprephero.com team conducted a survey among more than 1,000 jurors. Their statistics indicate only about 5 percent of people summoned get chosen as judicial elitists. However, 10 percent hated mandatory service so much that they lied under oath to get dismissed.
I didn’t lie when I was summoned and sworn-in for the voir dire process. That’s when you get e grilled and quizzed by attorneys as if you are the defendant instead of a potential juror.
I believe most people really don’t mind volunteering to help others. But sometimes opportunities such as jury duty are literally a pain in the – well, you know where it stabs your trauma trigger. The Barprephero.com survey indicated 26 percent of the people reported struggling with anxiety, guilt and fear after serving. Law of Attraction believers will tell you those negative emotions block the manifestation of good things.
Attorneys and judges will tell you it’s a privilege to serve on a jury. They spend hours interviewing contenders to find unbiased people when they know good and well what the judge told us. The judge said all people enter the courthouse with personal biases that cause us to pass judgement within the first 15 seconds of meeting someone. Many of us aren’t aware our personal belief systems are leading us to do so.
Barprephero.com’s survey also revealed that most of the jurors polled said the thing they disliked most is feeling their time is not respected by the attorneys. In my case, the prospects were treated more like cattle at the stockyards than people who were about to be given more power than the judge, who is not allowed to dispute a jury’s decision.
We were sent into the hall to stand or sit on the floor while attorneys earned three-digit figures for an hour. They called us by numbers and didn’t look us in the eye as they pompously paraded down the hallway. I was grateful they didn’t like me enough to keep me around. I found it insulting to be treated as if I were a cow. If I’m that important to the process, get this 69-year-old woman with bad ankles a chair, thank you!
The question of whether people can really get a fair trial due to cultural bias has been asked before. Harper Lee raised the issue in her book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, which became a powerful movie. Because I believe entertainment can lead to enlightenment, I am suggesting an overhaul of our judicial system by the judge America loves to hate – Simon Cowell, the creator of America’s Got Talent (AGT). Here are three reasons I believe Simon and a couple of other AGT judges are qualified to bring about positive change.
#1 Send in the Choirs Instead of the Clowns
In California, a court judge can be charged with a misdemeanor if he or she doesn’t wear a robe while on the bench. There is even a state law regulating how long the sleeves need to be. If the judge must wear a choir robe, Simon could also supply a choir – one that teaches the world to sing in perfect harmony by honoring the creative spirit of humanity instead of manmade laws. Simon has judged a few talent contests within his lifetime, so he’s connected. He knows some singers with big voices and bigger names. They can help warm up the audience and make it fun to serve.
#2 If You Send in the Clowns, Get a Professional Who Knows How to Write a Decent Joke
The judge babysitting us during the jury selection process tried to keep people awake with humor. He knew his legal schtick, but his jokes were lame. As for the plaintiff’s attorney’s comedy writing skills, my verdict is he was guilty of not being the least bit funny. However, it has been proven that people are more apt to remember facts when the evidence is presented with humor. That’s where AGT Judge Howie Mandel comes in. As a professional comedian, Howie can make us laugh enough to forget we don’t want to be there.
#3 Heidi Klum Makes Everyone Feel Stellar
AGT Judge and professional model, Heidi Klum has stage presence. She would capture our attention, our trust and our hearts. She seems to be a cheerleader for everyone who believes in themselves enough to show up. I believe she would make the jurors feel welcome, appreciated and as valuable as they are.