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Original poster

A question about jury service.

50 replies

KitKat1985 · 06/04/2019 19:45

DH received a letter in the post today calling him up for jury service in a few weeks. I don't know anyone that has ever been called up before so I don't know a lot about the process, and I don't think he does either. One thing we got to hypothetically wondering (in part because of having 2 young DDs - both at nursery - who seem to bring home every cold and tummy bug in existence) is what happens if you are halfway through a case and one of the jurors comes down with a tummy bug or something? Does the whole case have to adjourn for a few days? I assume the case wouldn't be able to carry on if one of the jurors was absent?

OP posts:

pndworries · 06/04/2019 20:46

I was worrying about it the other day funnily enough my dm was recently called up for jury service and I was thinking I’d hate it if I was as still bf ds 14m but he feeds so much still and I was thinking would they accept that, all hypothetical but I am a worrier 🤣

Original poster

KitKat1985 · 06/04/2019 20:48

I would have thought you could ask for a deferment if you were breast feeding? Although I guess the older the child the less likely the court is to consider it as a necessary reason to defer attendance at court.

OP posts:

Pandasarecute · 06/04/2019 20:50

As others have said all of the jurors have to hear the same evidence, you can't just substitute another one in. When I did it there was bad snow and we had a very delayed start because one juror couldn't get there. I had a traumatic trial and actually found it hard to adjust to normal life afterwards, I couldn't believe that I had just been part of passing a guilty verdict on two people who got life with a 30 year minimum tariff then I just went home and was expected to forget about it!

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dillite · 06/04/2019 20:51

It all depends on a type of illness and the length of the trial- a quickie 2 day trial? A juror will probably be discharged from the trial. A 7 day one, they will adjourn for a day but might still discharge a juror if illness is a longer one. Jurors are never substituted once a trial is underway. Not all jurors get to sit on a trial and many can be on several panels but never get picked.

Generally courts don't sit past 4- 4.15, but it can depend on each judge and also on the amount of time that may have been wasted. But it is always checked with the jurors if they are happy to sit late.

One thing I will say- you DH will get unbelievably bored just sitting around doing nothing a lot of the time, especially if not selected to be on a panel/ sit as a juror. There's nothing that staff can do about it and moaning at them won't change anything.

HeronLanyon · 06/04/2019 20:54

panda that will have been tough from the sentence alone. I agree. It’s a huge honour to be a juror when you think of it properly (putting aside all of the inconvenience etc) and also a huge burden sometimes. Not helped by the fact there are limits to what you can say etc. Victim support should be augmented by juror support ?

Original poster

KitKat1985 · 06/04/2019 20:54

I think I'm going to find it really hard not to be able to talk to DH about any of the cases that haven't yet concluded. Not because I'm after gossip or anything like that, but asking each other how are days were etc and offloading any crap for the day is just a usual part of our evenings together, so will be weird to know he can't tell me anything. Particularly for him if it's an unpleasant case, and he can't talk about it all and just has to bottle it all up.

OP posts:

dillite · 06/04/2019 20:58

Heron there's some juror support in the shape of a phone line that jurors can use to discuss the case and the effects of the evidence. Our court hands out leaflets for it at the end of trials, especially murders and child abuse ones to jurors that have sat on those, but it's available to all jurors that might be finding jury service emotionally hard.

Original poster

KitKat1985 · 06/04/2019 20:59

I find I really sad there is no aftercare for jurors. It must be pretty harrowing at times and I'm sure some of the cases they have to sit on are horrific, and that's before you even get to having to live with the lifelong 'did I make the right decision?' question after a trial.

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Original poster

KitKat1985 · 06/04/2019 21:00

Oh that's useful to know Dillite.

OP posts:

HeronLanyon · 06/04/2019 21:06

dillite that’s excellent. I think it’s still really patchy though isn’t it ? ?

Treefloof · 06/04/2019 21:07

I did jury duty a couple years ago.
It was boring as all hell. I did one case that was supposed to be 3 days ended up 5 days. But the waiting around for points of law to be discussed and waiting around in general, and i didnt have a smart phone then etc etc, boring.

But I found it easy to not tell my family about the case. Maybe if it had been harrowing I might have found it harder. But knowing that fairly soon I could discuss it made me ok.

We generally finished about 4 to half past. The court staff are amazingly lovely and made it bearable. They could not do more to try make it better. I was sent home after day 6. So sometimes you get out of it early.

dillite · 06/04/2019 21:08

I would have no idea heron but knowing how everything else in the court system works, I wouldn't be surprised if aftercare wasn't universal.

HeronLanyon · 06/04/2019 21:09

Indeed.

weasledee · 06/04/2019 21:09

In was on a murder trial jury a couple of years ago, most amazing and unreal experience. To look at the face of the murderer was quite surreal....
strange as it sounds it was one of the most rewarding things I've done....

dictionarycorners · 06/04/2019 21:10

dillite We didn’t get a leaflet of anything. We were offered no aftercare.

kikat It’s not always “did I make the right decision”. As soon as our long trial had ended, guilty verdict, the defendant was taken away for sentencing later and before we were dismissed the judge then was allowed to tell us about something that he was not allowed to mention during the case. It showed us that we were 100% correct in our verdict.

In fact this happened in two of our cases, sort of an explanation afterwards of why something was not allowed to be mentioned during the trial.

dictionarycorners · 06/04/2019 21:12

I should say that my jury service was years and years ago, so the aftercare situation may have changed.

BarbedBloom · 06/04/2019 21:24

I was curious about this recently as I have rheumatoid arthritis and wondered what would happen if I had a flare. I would probably struggle to sit for so long too and only work part time due to the fatigue. Has been an interesting read. My friend was excused recently because she is pregnant and has horrendous morning sickness, but I think she got a doctor’s note explaining that

kaytee87 · 06/04/2019 21:26

I've been called up twice and attended once. The second time I called them an

kaytee87 · 06/04/2019 21:28

and told them I was on maternity leave and didn't have childcare. There were no questions asked, I was excused straight away.

The courts try to be as reasonable as possible whilst still expecting people to do their civic duty where possible.

Op tell your husband to mention his time restraints right at the start.

My step father is a judge and they usually finish jury around 4pm.

dictionarycorners · 06/04/2019 21:30

My partner was called for the month I was due to give birth! He was allowed to defer.

He was called again about a year later and served and was one of those that spent days sitting around doing nothing. Well, he played games on his phone in the waiting area and drank a lot of tea. He did one three day case and was sent home half a week early.

cliffdiver · 06/04/2019 21:35

@pndworries @dictionarycorners DD2 was 16months and I did consider asking for deferral due to BFing but my understanding is you can only defer once and will get called up again within a year and as we had 2 holidays booked that could have clashed with future JD I decided to sit.

In hind site, I should have deferred!

cliffdiver · 06/04/2019 21:37

Apologies for the shocking lack of punctuation

PatchworkElmer · 06/04/2019 21:37

I’ve been pondering health exclusions recently- I’ve got PND and anxiety, though am functioning very well- going to work, etc. I think that I would struggle to cope with a ‘nasty’ trial though. I’d want to do it, but I’m not sure I’d be considered suitable? But then surely a mental health diagnosis can’t rule you out on its own...

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 06/04/2019 21:44

My DS is at University , he deferred a couple of months ago but has been re-scheduled to the Easter Break.

Hopefully it won't extend over the 2 weeks or he'll miss his course .

dillite · 06/04/2019 22:41

patchwork it can actually as long as you have medical evidence to support you. No sane judge (there are exceptions, but they are rare) will make you sit a difficult trial, especially if it will be detrimental to your mental health. You might not necessarily be discharged from jury service but might sit on an easier trial, like drugs or fraud. It is very important to make your needs clear from the start and if you don't think that you will be able to sit on a trial, ask to speak to the judge if your name is called as a juror, you can explain to them everything.

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