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Alaskans are good about being jurors. Collectively they contribute hundreds of hours each year to the workings of the justice system. Most trials last only one to three days but a few last several weeks. Most jurors appear willingly. Those who don't can be ordered before the court to answer to contempt of court charges. Serving as jurors is the one thing that the legislators require of persons who receive a PFD.

An Alaskan may not be called to jury more than once a year and often a juror serves on only one jury and is released. To be a juror in Alaska, one must be 18 years of age, able to read or speak English, a resident of the state, not a convicted felon, and of sound mind. The court makes special accommodation for those with disabilities. A blind juror was foreperson of a Juneau jury not long ago. Interpreters and special equipment are available for persons with hearing difficulties.

Jurors are poorly paid. They receive $5 for the first day and $25 for each day after that - and their responsibilities are great. In a profound sense, jurors establish the standards of a community. In certain cases, what the jury decides a "reasonable person" should do truly sets the tone for the legal community. For example, if juries are willing to consider any threat or gesture sufficient to justify self-defense, soon police will not arrest and prosecutors will not charge people engaged in a mutual brawl. But if juries think people must be truly threatened before they use force, the standards change. Similarly, in civil cases (where definition of negligence is what a "reasonable person" would do in the circumstances), if juries regularly decide that it is "reasonable" to leave stone quarries unfenced next to playgrounds, lawyers will learn that it is futile to bring those cases to trial.

There have been some juries in Alaska communities that acquitted any local person accused of crime. That frontier attitude surfaces from time to time in civil and criminal cases. We also have learned from high-profile cases outside, that justice requires people who are proven guilty to be convicted, just as it requires the innocent to be acquitted.

The jury doesn't have the right to ignore evidence of negligence or guilt and decide nullification. Jury nullification is what juries in the South did for many years when they acquitted white persons who were proven guilty, and convicted African-Americans who were not guilty by any reasonable evidentiary standard.

Juries need to be from a cross section of the community, with the experiences, ideals and values of a variety of people contributing to just decisions. Alaska has been fortunate to have the outlooks and insights of conscientious and public spirited jurors willing to contribute their time and energy to helping our society resolve its conflicts. That is what makes it work.

Jury service is a duty of all of us. But the time, energy, good judgment and goodwill of those who do serve have the appreciation of all citizens who strive for a fair system of justice.

Larry Weeks is a presiding judge of the First Judicial District.