陪審員 (Jury duty)

日本で今話題になっている裁判員制度ですが、皆様ご存知だと思いますが、アメリカでは昔から陪審員制度があります。アメリカ人の娘が今日裁判官より呼び出しを受け、裁判所に行きました。娘の話ですと、１００名呼び出され、いろいろな条件が有るみたいで、本当に陪審員として裁判にでるよう選ばれたのは２０人位、選ばれた人たちは、これから長い裁判に出なければ成らないそうです。娘は選ばれなくて、ほっとしていました。
These days, a lot of people in Japan have been talking about a public "jury system". As you know, a public jury system has been established in U.S. Today my daughter (who became an American citizen a couple of years ago) had to go to a court house because she got summoned. According to my daughter, about 100 people were called and filled out some questionnaires. In the end, I guess about 20 people were selected to be a jury for this particular trial. The people who have been selected had to be at this trial for about a week. My daughter was glad that she wasn't selected.