Students in the 8th grade history and 12th grade civics classes learned about the important civic duty of serving on a jury during a guest lecture by Superior Court Judge William Miller, who is in Atlantic County’s family court division. Judge Miller’s presentation on May 2 was part of the New Jersey Judiciary’s “One Judge-One School” program in which ACS has participated for several years. Judge Miller described how America’s founding fathers created a new jury system that was different from the judicial system in England — a jury of your peers system. He also reviewed the age and residency qualifications to serve on a jury in New Jersey, and several students who were 18 years old described their recent experiences receiving a notice to serve on a jury. “It’s your civic duty and constitutionally-protected right to serve on a jury and it’s a serious responsibility because you are making decisions about other people’s lives,” Judge Miller said.
Judge Miller also discussed some of his experiences serving as a family court judge and how he encounters young people whose lives have been negatively impacted by drug addiction. He warned the students about the especially harmful effects that drugs have on the brains of 15-25 years olds and cited statistics about the alarming number of deaths resulting from drug overdoses. “Some 50,000 Americans died over the 8-10 years of the Vietnam War,” Judge Miller said. “Compare this to the fact that just last year alone 76,000 people died in the U.S. from a drug overdose.”
