Nearly everyone of career age with any brains does everything possible to get out of jury duty, even if work pays for a week or two of it (which many workplaces do). Guess who this leaves? That's exactly the reason for f'ed-up jury awards in this country -- they're composed entirely of retired people, housewives whose kids have grown up, the bored and unemployed, or (and this is by far the smallest group) people who believe it's their civic duty. Then take that group, have the lawyers remove people with any opinions, and you get a bunch of bored mouth-breathers with no critical thinking skills.
I used to do this too, but then I realized that this is the reason juries come to f'ed-up decisions, and I should be participating in the process.
Here's an important link:
www.fija.org