Jury Service

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Ricardodaforce

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Today I completed two weeks of jury service. What an interesting experience. I’d happily do it again if asked to.
Interesting to see the lengths the courts went to to ensure social distancing.
 
I did it twice, three trials two of which I was the foreman for. I got a motoring related case and two very serious cases one of which was extremely upsetting. If I am ever called again I'd act very differently but thankfully I don't think I will be :D

People I know said they'd love to do it, especially a few women, and one of my sisters was excited to be called but she didn't get to do a case, she was selected and they went into court but there was some legal point and it was all cancelled within a few minutes. She was really disappointed.
 
My mum did it once, a manslaughter through negligence case in Hong Kong (a fireman was killed, very sadly). I think she found it quite upsetting but never said much about the experience.
 
Never done jury service but spent a lot of time in various courts in the south during my teens
Found it interesting and amazed at the arguments used to get people off the charges
 
Never been called, my wife did, but got excused because she was in the latter stages of pregnancy.
Colleague at work served on a complex insurance fraud trial, it went on for a few months.
 
I’ve done it four times. The last one was a 7 month terrorism case at the Old Bailey.

My ex always complained that she’d never been called up. When she finally was called to go she ended up on a horrendous rape and abuse case that gave her nightmares for months afterwards.
 
I have done it 3 times, the first 2 I was working and did not lose any money, the 3rd I was retired and although I did not lose financially it basically means working a whole day for a pittance. I got called a 4th time but a month before it started they contacted me and asked if I was willing to step down.
They have put the maximum age up to 75 now, I am 72, and I got a 5th summons last year, fortunately? I had to have an op. and was excused.
My BiL got on a long case and was offered excusal from further Jury service but he declined as he enjoyed it.
 
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boogie man said:
I’ve done it four times. The last one was a 7 month terrorism case at the Old Bailey.

My ex always complained that she’d never been called up. When she finally was called to go she ended up on a horrendous rape and abuse case that gave her nightmares for months afterwards.
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How does that work? Are you off work for 7 months (asking the bleeding obvious)?
 
cambsno said:
How does that work? Are you off work for 7 months (asking the bleeding obvious)?
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Basically, yes. And all of us had full time jobs. Your employer normally pays you while you’re in court but it’s not obligatory. In our case after three months the judge decided the court would pay anyone who’d been getting aggro from their employer.

The self-employed rate of pay from the court is very poor and you can talk to the judge at the point of jury selection if you think you or your business would suffer as a result of being on a long case. You can get exempted for other reasons too: things like bad health, previously booked operations, need for child care etc etc. A prebooked holiday doesn’t always guarantee you’ll be let off though, it’s entirely down to the judge.

On our case they pretty much knew they’d get a lot of people who couldn’t be involved in a long trial: normally they randomly chose 12 jurors from a panel of 16 or so who go down to the court. On our case they had 150!!
 
my better half been called to sit next month she is worried about the social distancing. side of it, i told her if she's lucky she just sit in the waiting room like i did :)
 
Kingo46 said:
my better half been called to sit next month she is worried about the social distancing. side of it, i told her if she's lucky she just sit in the waiting room like i did :)
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When I did it social distancing was maintained in the juror waiting areas, and the court room.
 
Done it twice and was thoroughly p***ed off at the amount of time wasted due to people not turning up, legal reps not having the right files etc.
 
Shocked this morning.. you just dont expect it do you...

I hate seeing brown envalopes pop through the letterbox but when you look at the little window to see if its your name and you see HM courts ...that was the shock.. erk :(

End of january.... read every page and cant see a way out of it :(
 
Financial hardship - you're self employed and doing the service could bankrupt you.

Or get yourself a criminal record! (Mistletoe and Wine doesn't count...)
 
Nod said:
Financial hardship - you're self employed and doing the service could bankrupt you.

Or get yourself a criminal record! (Mistletoe and Wine doesn't count...)
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been told get it deferred and probably wont call again :)
I know some have said they relished the experience but i honestly couldnt think of anyhting worse
t
 
have filled out the form asking to be excused...... am quietly confident :)
 
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KIPAX said:
been told get it deferred and probably wont call again :)
I know some have said they relished the experience but i honestly couldnt think of anyhting worse
t
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I wouldn’t bank on a deferral making it go away permanently. A friend had two deferrals and still ended up getting called up again. Seems to be potluck.

Jury service can be ok if you get on an interesting case, but to be honest most of them aren’t.
 
boogie man said:
I wouldn’t bank on a deferral making it go away permanently. A friend had two deferrals and still ended up getting called up again. Seems to be potluck.
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The reason I ahve given will be the same until I fully retire.... By then I might welcome it as somehting to do :)
 
KIPAX said:
The reason I ahve given will be the same until I fully retire.... By then I might welcome it as somehting to do :)
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I wouldn't as if you get a bad case it might stay with you for the rest of your life.
 
woof woof said:
I wouldn't as if you get a bad case it might stay with you for the rest of your life.
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good point.. somneone else told me a horror of a case they where on :(
 
It's a civic duty and will do it when called - hasn't happened yet though.
 
It is actually a legal requirement to do jury service, rather than a civic duty. That’s why you get a summons to attend. Of course you can be excused or get it deferred if you have a good enough reason.
 
boogie man said:
It is actually a legal requirement to do jury service, rather than a civic duty. That’s why you get a summons to attend. Of course you can be excused or get it deferred if you have a good enough reason.
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Can't it be both?

My point was: even if I had a legal exemption I would do it, because I feel it is something one ought to do as debt to society, regardless of what the law demands.
 
Llamaman said:
Can't it be both?

My point was: even if I had a legal exemption I would do it, because I feel it is something one ought to do as debt to society, regardless of what the law demands.
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Sure it can be both, and good for you for wanting to attend whatever ;-)

My point was a lot of people seem to think it’s voluntary, rather than a legal requirement by the state.
 
Llamaman said:
Can't it be both?

My point was: even if I had a legal exemption I would do it, because I feel it is something one ought to do as debt to society, regardless of what the law demands.
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What's a debt to society ?
 
Llamaman said:
Can't it be both?

My point was: even if I had a legal exemption I would do it, because I feel it is something one ought to do as debt to society, regardless of what the law demands.
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Even if it meant you'd end up in debt because you have been unable to earn anything while cases dragged on?
 
Nod said:
Even if it meant you'd end up in debt because you have been unable to earn anything while cases dragged on?
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If the case is likely to go on for a long time sometimes the courts will decide to cover the jurors’ wages . The self employed rate was pretty rubbish though last time I did jury service ; back in 2004/5 it was something like £250 a week. It might be better nowadays for all I know, although somehow I doubt it.
 
KIPAX said:
What's a debt to society ?
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Justifying a £224,690 salary by ensuring the roads are even somewhat maintained so that the public do not have to plough through this two year old monstrosity? Ah, hang on, I don't think it works that way around.

11111.jpg
 
Llamaman said:
It's a civic duty and will do it when called - hasn't happened yet though.
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Called twice, had to hold in laughter when defence counsel making ‘excuses’, or when police officers claiming “I do not recall” when being questioned, but it’s chance we have when having a justice system in place.
 
Nod said:
Even if it meant you'd end up in debt because you have been unable to earn anything while cases dragged on?
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Not just wages though - small businesses / sole traders are also maintaining/building a business. Not being able to do that or build a pipeline may affect business well after service has ended. If your a wedding tog for example and you dont have time to do shows, market etc then you could affect next seasons business
 
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I've been called three times. One time I and a lot of other people did not get a case and on the afternoon of the third day we we discharged.

The other two occasions I was on a jury.and both were interesting. I agree, apart from a legal requirement I think it is reasonable duty for everyone, but the compensation rates for the self employed are poor.

There will be complex cases where specialist knowledge might be needed but for most I think the system of having a group of average people decide the outcome on the basis of the evidence provided is excellent.. Although one of the jurors on one of my juries did not seem to understand what they were supposed to consider and said, "I think he is guilty but I don't want to vote for guilty if he'll go to prison."

Dave
 
I would loved to have been called but never have and now too old. A friend who served mentioned that his case was a serious case involving a paedophile. The evidence was quite clear yet a few of the women jurors felt sorry or him. Nevertheless, it was a unanimous Guilty in the end and the paedophile was locked up for decades. During the sentencing previous convictions were listed and the women who felt sorry for him were very embarrassed that they had been. I guess some find it tough to reach a decision based on the evidence alone however complete. Of course, you are not allowed to talk about cases but the friend told me no details or names. He was left with the view that only a portion of the population are able to consider evidence and make a clear logical decision. I suspect that many jurors are strongly influenced by the body language and peer pressure of other jurors as we see on movies with juries.

Dave
 
Did it once years ago. We didn't get a case so just sat around getting very bored. Fortunately my employer made up my salary but we kept being let go part way through the day and I was then expected to go to work, over 30 miles away, so no lunch those days.
My partner was called but was working as a sub contractor so no work no pay. He got it deferred but neither of us has been called again (waits now for summons to drop through door :LOL:)
 
Maybe different in Scotland but we were called to a specific case, there were more people than required so not all were chosen, those not required were released by 10.30 on the first day, the rest of us were retained until 12.00ish on the first day when it was decided that our case would not begin and sent home until the next morning.
 
Nod said:
Even if it meant you'd end up in debt because you have been unable to earn anything while cases dragged on?
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I'm fortunate enough that I wouldn't end up in debt, but I can't speak for anybody else's situation.
 
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