Jury Duty & Peremptory Challenges

I was called for one jury panel, and I wasn't selected. That was it, and so I served my civic duty for another couple of years. For the panel, the charges being considered were for a lesser felony, and according to the judge, it probably wouldn't go on for more than a couple of days. Despite that, 55 of us sat on the jury panel, to select 14 people. There were several people let go for cause, and the lawyers were each allowed to use 11 peremptory challenges (i.e., for any reason (except illegal ones like racial discrimination)).

In truth, I don't see much reason for any peremptory challenges. I understand that occasionally there's something about a certain juror that seems a bit off, even though no cause can be stated, so I wouldn't object with keeping a couple of such challenges. And even 4-5 when you're talking about a capital case. But the number in this case was just too high. If there's a reason to dismiss a juror, then by all means dismiss him/her. But if there's no reason, then forget it -- seat the individual and move on. This would save the court time (shorter time necessary to interview the potential jurors, etc.) and make jury selection much more efficient. And of course, it would balance out, since both sides would lose their peremptories. It made me curious about other states, so I googled some, to see how many peremptory challenges they get:

• Arizona: 10 for a capital case, 6 for other felonies, 2 for misdemeanors
  
• California: 20 for a capital case, 10 for most criminal cases, 6 for criminal cases punishable by less than 90 days in jail
• Florida: 10 for capital cases, 6 for other felonies, 3 for misdemeanors
• Georgia: 20/10 for capital cases, 12/6 for other felonies (first number is for defendants, second is for prosecution)
• Oregon: 12 for capital cases, 6 for other felonies, 3 for misdemeanors
  
• Pennsylvania: where there is a single defendant, 20 for a capital case, 7 for other felonies, and 5 for misdemeanors
• Texas: 15 for capital cases, 10 for other felonies, 3 for misdemeanors
• Wisconsin: 6 for life imprisonment cases (like DC, they have no capital punishment), 4 for other crimes
  

The case I was hearing was a felony, so as near as I can tell, DC has among the highest number of peremptories for such cases. The joke in DC is that while you don't get called for jury duty for at least 2 years since the last time you were called, the reality is that you get called almost as soon as you hit two years, due to the amount of crime relative to the number of registered voters in the district. Seems like reducing the number of peremptories would help on this front as well.