What was your jury service like?

[Eastie77]

Obviously I don't want anyone to write anything too revealing or expect a response from anyone who is currently on a jury but I'm interested in experiences other MNetter's have had.

I completed jury service a while ago and recently met up for a coffee with one of the jurors I bonded with. The case dragged on and on and was fairly unpleasant (kidnapping, fraud) but I was impressed by both the defence and prosecution legal teams and I learned about the law so overall it was quite interesting. We were reminiscing about some of the 'characters' on the jury.

Personally I was a little a little taken aback that one of the jurors really struggled with English and I wondered how on earth she followed a lot of the legal arguments and therefore made a decision based on the evidence presented. I’m not saying for a moment that poor English = less intelligent but even native speakers on the jury had trouble following a lot of the arguments so I think she must have struggled. Before this experience I had always believed a jury system was very fair I came away thinking I prefer the system in other countries where a group of judges decide as opposed to 11 random members of the public seems who may or may not be able to grasp what is going on!

I really enjoyed my jury service. I'd be pleased to be called again

Similar to some PPs the case involved rapes that we ended up finding him not guilty for. I hated it, on a completely white jury in the Home Counties in a case involving people from a completely different culture, and female jurors had no time for the idea someone could be coerced into sex against their will by their husband ("we've all done it when we didn't feel in the mood" IT'S NOT THE SAME FFS). The prosecution were just crap. We found him guilty of beating her, but not raping her.

I would not want to do it again. I am not happy that enough people have the intelligence to understand what they're being asked to consider, or the ability to think critically.

Is it true you can’t do it if you’ve been up in court yourself? Driving charges.

A lot of waiting about, which meant that you could not plan your day or days and also advise your work easily. One case for two days. I have always felt justice takes too long and this is no justice for the victims, and this reinforced my view.

On the positive side, met some lovely people and had interesting conversations in the breaks.

Done it twice. Very interesting and felt I was doing my civic duty.
Juror's names are NOT read out in court as a PP stated. No-one knows your name unless you tell them.

I had an awful rape case and was appalled at the level of judgement coming from other jurors. There were a few in my group that were awful. I just hope and pray my fate will never be decided by similar!

DH had a week of sitting around which he didn't mind as he got paid and a friend happened to be there too. Then he got a traumatic sexual abuse case which went on for over six weeks. We never knew if he would be released in time to pick up the kids so I had to take hours off just in case and then work late at night, and he'd be crying but unable to say why - at least once I figured out which case it was (only one at that location that had started more than a week ago, and I googled the defendant's names), he knew I understood even though he couldn't talk about it. The guy was found guilty on almost all of the counts. Some of the counts of rape they couldn't find guilty simply because there was so much room for reasonable doubt, but it wasn't because they didn't believe the witnesses.

There was one juror who didn't want to have to find anyone guilty of anything, having come from a country with a corrupt judiciary, as they believed the chances of anyone being guilty were very low if they happened to be in court. Apparently said juror slowly changed their mind.

Ironically the counts where there was doubt were because there was going to be another trial later with another dozen witnesses, which was why the obvious witnesses weren't providing evidence. The next trial was then suspended to save trauma for the remaining witnesses, seeing as the guy is locked up for the foreseeable, but the charges remain on record.

I did 3 weeks just service. I had a gbh and a drugs trial, also a rape where the defendant was found not guilty. The other jurors were quite a mix of people, some couldn't be bothered but the majority took it seriously.
The rape trial did show some judgemental attitudes, sadly mainly from the younger women.
It was an interesting experience.

Mine was a fairly straight forward assault with a key witness and 3 different pov CCTV footage that we watched on repeat with different people and police explaining what we were seeing... all very boring tbh and no real cause for discussion as he was obviously guilty!

heidi I also wouldn't want to stand trial with my fate in the hands of a jury. The lady who didn't speak much English on the jury I sat on looked variously bemused and bored by the whole process and just went along with what the majority decided.

This has reminded me that my mum was on a jury years ago. She lives and breathes conspiracy theories and rarely listens to facts. She told me she decided the defendant was innocent because he looked like such a nice boy and was well dressed He was found guilty in the end and the judge then read out the long list of his previous violent convictions.

I was called last year. On the first day we didn’t have to attend until midday then I had to be excused as it was a family friends case. We weren’t required on day two, called back on day three and four wasn’t picked on either day. There wasn’t a lot of waiting around.

Also the juror’s names were called when I attended in front of the accused and all their support. Not sure it’s only certain courts. It was a Scottish sheriff court.

Justcarrymehome completely normal re the jurors names being given in front of accused in Scotland.

Ginger1982 Good to know.
Is it different between Scotland and England? With some people saying their name was called and other not being called.

My name was called out (London, Crown Court) - I believe the defendant is allowed to object at that point & they would call someone else from the pool. But then I just became 'Juror 8'.

One thing I found very weird, and it took a while to get over, was spending two weeks immersed in the trial, hearing really unpleasant evidence, delivering the guilty verdict (I was foreman) and then being on the bus home within about 30 minutes! I am lucky enough to know a criminal barrister and was able to talk through it all as a kind of therapeutic debrief, but it's quite a thing to get people off the street to do and then they just go back to normality when it's done.

Do you volunteer to be foreman or do you get picked?

Tensixtysix you can ask for a deferment under certain situation eg young baby, holiday already book etc. Being a juror is a responsibility of being a citizen. If you really don’t want to be a juror then you can remove your name from the electrol role and then there is no chance of you being called.

My Grandad was called to be involved with Wallis Simpson's divorce. He deferred due to being involved with his farm.. Grandma was furious as.she missed the gossip! 🤣 🤣 🤣

I was called just over a year ago. There was an expected long case, I had to complete a form saying why I wouldn't be able to do that (school holidays looming), that was fine. I got selected on my second day, did two days in court plus deliberation; the relief on the gent's face when we found him not guilty was amazing, he'd obviously been through hell in the two years since arrest before the case came up. Over the next few days I got selected twice more but was rejected both times. I was then 'retired' midway through my second week and went back to work!

@Saffzy The group decides between everyone who will be foreman - it's the first job when you're sent out to for deliberations. In my case a couple of people suggested me, and I was happy to do it having chaired quite a few meetings in my time. That's all it is really, chairing the discussions until you reach a verdict, being the person who communicates with the judge on behalf of the jury, and the deliver the verdict in court.

Only been called once so far. Had to defer as I had just started a new job and was about to sit university exams. Waiting to be called again.

Fascinating thread. I enjoyed it, but I would have felt very different if the case included violence.
I thought one person had decided they were guilty from the off. So I was pleased that she instigated proper discussion.

Interesting to read - I'm about to start in the next few weeks.
Not looking forward to it, tbh.

Nobody in my family has ever been called for jury service which seems ever so odd as this is is over 10 people spanning 50 plus years and we are law abiding souls I think so surely not on a blacklist.

I was sent a letter saying I’d have to do it and declined on MH grounds; I simply would not have been able to get to the city, I would have had panic attacks the entire time,, nevermind every day for weeks end and potentially re-live my own trauma even more than I already do. As a result of re diving my jury duty letter I am now no longer on the electoral roll and so will never vote again.

*receiving
Ffs.