Here's where you'll be spending some serious time.

Given that New York City’s criminal court system has the busiest docket of any jurisdiction in America, as long as you’re not one of those people still registered to vote back in Idaho, or heck, even Nassau County despite having lived in New York City for a decade, odds are that your number is going to come up for jury duty at some point. Here are some tips and memories to get you through, or out of your civic duty, which as your summons guffaws at you, “is as important as paying taxes.”

If your summons says “trial,” also known as a “petit” jury, then you may be able to squirm out of service. Here’s how trial jury duty works: You report to the Supreme Court Building at 360 Adams Street and gather in a large waiting room. You watch a fuzzy Night Court-era video titled The Sword and Shield, then a judge, who may or may not have a lazy eye and unamused countenance, will come out and direct traffic. He will listen to your story about needing to get out of jury duty at this point, but unless a family member is in the hospital and you have photos to prove it, it won’t do any good. Over the course of the day groups of potential jurors are called into small rooms for voir dire, wherein the basic facts of a case are presented and then the lawyers from both sides ask you and 15 to 20 other potential jurors questions, designed to weed out jurors who may be less than impartial.


It didn’t work for Liz Lemon, but you can try playing it crazy to get out of jury duty.

We’re not advocating this sort of behavior, but there are a number of ways to shirk your duty, or simply postpone duty. Read More »

Usually here on Brooklyn Based we like to present you with guides for fun–new neighborhoods to explore, clubs to join, museums to visit. Sometimes though, we have to get serious and recommend dentists or tips on how to hold onto your bike.

Now we’re going to tell you how to arm yourself in the war against bedbugs. Read More »