DCist sees jury duty as an excuse to get the hell out of the office, and maybe, just maybe, actually get to sit in judgment on an O.J. Simpson-like courtroom drama (well, spare that whole murder and being sequestered forever thing). Most District residents see otherwise, apparently.

Yesterday the Examiner reported on a new study which found that fewer than 1 in 5 D.C. residents selected for jury duty actually bother to show up, and more than a third don’t respond to jury summonses. All told, the District’s “jury yield” comes in at 18 percent, above 1997’s 16 percent but still lagging behind Baltimore, Los Angeles and New York. The main problem isn’t necessarily that District residents lack the civic-mindedness to understand the importance of serving on juries alongside their peers; it’s more that the city just plain has the wrong address for many of them.

Obviously, this is one instance where we can take a cue from “The Simpsons.” Upon taking control of Springfield, a Mensa group composed of Lisa, Dr. Hibbert, Comic Book Guy, Professor Frink, Principal Skinner and Lindsay Naegle finds a way to make jury duty sound much more interesting than it is. Reads a summons sent to Moe the Bartender: “You’ve been invited to join the Justice Squadron! 8 a.m. Monday at the Municipal Fortress of Vengeance!”

That would make anyone want to go to jury duty.