How much of this has to do with the fact that as a country, we don't value this kind of service? Employers are not required to cover pay for jury duty in all cases. My employer covers my standard pay for the first 3 days and then I get the stipend from the court, which is practically nothing. Luckily, I can afford to take that hit (at least for a little while), but lots of people can't. There's something to be said for the fact that we require people to serve, but we don't ensure that they are financially compensated when they miss work for days or weeks.
Also, I'm not sure how much prep jurors get. I've been called once and my case was dismissed, so I've never served. Are jurors given any kind of overview of what the burden of proof is or how to legally determine if there's reasonable doubt? Or do we count on people having a law and order education?
I agree with you on this 100%. Our local jury stipend is $11 per day. I can vividly remember crying when my H did not get excused from jury duty despite the fact that he was the only one working at the time. His work did not cover pay for jury duty, and they also had no vacation/sick leave/PTO. H ended up on a 3 or 4 day trial. We were young and poor and had no savings, and it was a huge hit financially. We were late paying several bills, incurred late fees, and it took us MONTHS to recover. It was really hard.
And that's coming from someone who was a huge mock trial nerd all throughout school, and believes wholeheartedly in the civic responsibility of serving on a jury. I just wish we (as a country) valued the service enough to compensate fairly for it.