Jury duty, panicking as not allowed to wear mask

[KatyS36]

Hello,

I've just been summoned for jury duty. Reading the information we're not allowed to wear masks in the court room.
I'm in a total panic, this sounds like absolute madness. We're about to go into lock down, there's a new mutation with increased transmission risk, and I have to be inside with strangers and not wear a mask.
I'm suffered massively with anxiety since the start of covid. I'm coped with the help of a therapist and by being very cautious as to where I go, I can work from home and have introvert tendencies, so this has been okay.
This has thrown me though and I simply don't think I can cope.

I work in courts. I’ve been incredible impressed by the way our local crown court has dealt with Covid (although I recognise they are somewhat of a shining light). They have really good, high level plexiglass between every juror and they have built portable jury rooms so there is space to socially distance. The courtroom is cleaned after every session and there is good social distancing. You’re safer there than in the supermarket. You are allowed to wear a mask if you want.

Courts are on their knees with cases backed-up. They need jurors to ensure justice is done. I understand you’re worried OP but being scared of Covid is unfortunately not a reason to avoid doing your civic duty. If everyone scared of Covid didn’t want to do jury service then the court system would collapse.

They have really good, high level plexiglass between every juror

If this is the case, then this is very a drama llama thread from OP.

@JaniceBattersby

I work in courts. I’ve been incredible impressed by the way our local crown court has dealt with Covid (although I recognise they are somewhat of a shining light). They have really good, high level plexiglass between every juror and they have built portable jury rooms so there is space to socially distance. The courtroom is cleaned after every session and there is good social distancing. You’re safer there than in the supermarket. You are allowed to wear a mask if you want.

Courts are on their knees with cases backed-up. They need jurors to ensure justice is done. I understand you’re worried OP but being scared of Covid is unfortunately not a reason to avoid doing your civic duty. If everyone scared of Covid didn’t want to do jury service then the court system would collapse.

Nobody spends days on end in a supermarket. We are supposed to be avoided indoor spaces populated by people from other households. This country has not twigged sufficiently to the fact this is an airborne disease. You can clean surfaces until you’re blue in the face, it is very unlikely to impact transmission.

It is madness that this continues in Tier 4 areas. Why hasn’t there been a shift to judge-based decision making or virtual trials as has occurred in other civilised countries?

People should not be risking their lives for the criminal justice system. It’s unacceptable. They should at the very least have an out if they are clinically vulnerable. It was very notable in the documentation I saw for my partner that there was no information supplied for these people.

^ Except for supermarket workers, I should add. ☺️ And they tend to be much better ventilated than my local rabbit warren court building!

@Frazzled2207

I’d really like to know the rationale behind being “not allowed” to wear masks though am pleased to hear they are taking SD seriously

The only thing I can think of is in case there is a chance the accused may know the jurors, so they have a chance to object.

[quote BananaPop2020]@callistography don’t be ridiculous.[/quote]
Not being ridiculous. If this is what the court expects then it is putting people at risk and also ignoring their own rights. They only have to look at the HSE standards. These state that they have a right to wear a mask if they wish to.

Plus, my brother is a barrister and they are wearing masks so I highly doubt jury members will be asked this. If they are, then the OP must question why as this isn't common practice in all courts. Everyone has a right to protect themselves and such a dictate seems wrong right now, especially with a new and more virulent strain of the virus around.

But clearly 'don't be ridiculous' is a sensible response.. Right??? Or maybe you should stop and think about peoples rights, @BananaPop2020

@BananaPop2020 why not? The OP has a high risk child at home and is also in therapy for COVID related anxiety.

@TeachesOfPeaches I would direct you to JaniceBattersby’s well written post above. Every single person could find some reason why they couldn’t do Jury Service if they tried. As has been pointed out, Courts are very hot on being as Covid secure as possible.

@callistography do stop with the desperation to claim the moral high ground. If you are so worried about people’s rights, what about the right to justice? Or trial by Jury? What about the victims who have been waiting for months, if not years for their day in Court? There have been various sensible comments on this post by people that actually work in Courts, and are not reliant on second or third hand accounts.

Hang on, what?! Jury service is going ahead in person?! That's insane. Nowhere indoors is Covid secure, everything @Em777 says is correct. Plexiglass? Ha! The virus spreads like cigarette smoke.

I'm so glad I have insomnia and read this, as my 74 year old MIL is meant to be doing it soon postponed from last March, but assumed it would be postponed again as surely that's not happening at the moment. Ffs. I haven't been indoors with anyone not in my household since March except for a few well-ventilated shops, and I'm only 40.

@mawbroon

I did it a month ago. The jury sat in a cinema with a two way video link to the courtroom. There were 15 jurors, one guy looking after us and the guy doing the tech in a cinema that held probably around 200 folk. We was loads of room. I was jealous of the ones who got the premium seats 😆 I suspect this set up is only in Scotland though.

That sounds like an excellent solution. I love it when off the wall and innovative ideas like that come to fruition. It sounds really obvious, especially as cinemas are mostly closed, but usually ideas like that don't get off the ground for 'computer says no' type reasons'.

I did jury duty years in normal times and it would have been the jury room and general milling around that would have been the problem for covid security.

Dozens of people crammed in a small waiting room or trying to move around crowded corridors, where even masks wouldn't have provided sufficient protection, given that only a minority wear them correctly, if at all.

The court room and deliberation rooms were spacious and far less of an issue.

One of the issues in my opinion is transport to and from the court room, as many people will not have a car, and in any case the time for travel may be at the school peak.

Such a difficult conundrum, OP, I’m glad you have a get out in the form of your child, so use it!

But on a wider level, this is a huge problem. We can’t just stop all the whole judiciary system indefinitely, it’s a massive undertaking to put on a trial, and there needs to be a way of conducting proceedings safely and fairly to all.

Nothing surprises me with this, I know they’ve moved most courts online, but there’s been reports since the start of this of unclean courts, no soap, no hot water etc.

That won’t help you op but I think your absolutely right to be questioning it.

I imagine they're more Covid secure Anywhere else you've been op. But if you're a carer for an SEN child is that not grounds for being excused ?

The court I was at changed the sitting times to allow for rush hour to pass before people had to be there, which helped to reduce the need to travel on public transport at its busiest period. We started at 10.30 and finished no later than 4 every day. It made the trial a bit longer but those using public transport thought it worked well.

Hello everyone, thanks so much for all the supportive comments. I couldn't sleep last night but had a few looks through the night and it was so helpful.

I'm normally a can do people pleaser, but the more I thought about this it just kept coming back to a huge no.

With our daughter it sometimes takes a bit of time to realise how much of a problem something would be. We try to live as normally as possible, but we've had to make changes and sacrifices to make everything work.

Anyway, good news is I contacted the court today and asked to be excused, citing main weekday carer and my child's diagnosis, with written evidence, and they replied within a few hours saying I was excused! Huge relief.

Thanks again all
Ruth

Oh wonderful update OP- it must be a weight off your mind.

@KatyS36 I'm so relieved for you xxx