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Original poster

Do you know anyone who has done jury duty?

173 replies

Soubriquet · 16/12/2021 17:35

America seems to portray that most people have had at least one summons to do jury duty.

I haven’t known anyone to do it. Is it as common as it appears to be?

OP posts:
VitalsStable · 16/12/2021 17:52

I've been summoned twice but was breastfeeding both times so was exempt. Someone told me I'll never be called again now!

dustandfluf · 16/12/2021 17:53

I've done jury duty. I was 22. Did it for a week, two cases of theft. Very big well known murder trial going on at the same time but I wasn't in that group. My mum has done it twice.

southlondoner02 · 16/12/2021 17:53

I've done it as has DP. We looked it up at the time and about a third of the population are called to do it.

I would imagine less people as a percentage are called than in America because they have the system of having a big pool of jurors for each trial and then a number are excluded whereas there are less reasons here why you would be excluded eg if you know the defendant

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southlondoner02 · 16/12/2021 17:54

Also I think it's random from the electoral register which is why you might get called more than once or not at all

ClintBartonsWife · 16/12/2021 17:55

I've done it twice and I'm the only person I know that has ever done it.

Livelifeinthebuslane · 16/12/2021 17:56

It's random. I did it about 25 years ago, child sexual assault, not great. Then I was called about 7 years ago again but excused as a single parent and couldn't get childcare as the court is an hour's drive away when normally I run my business from home.

My dad did it about 20 years ago too, his cases weren't so traumatic, one was a punch up in a pub on Christmas Eve.

EatSleepRantRepeat · 16/12/2021 17:57

Yep I was summoned and selected for a very disturbing case and had nightmares afterwards. My aunt and husband have both done it and found it traumatic. We lived in the same town as a county court so not sure if that played a part in being selected.

The current system is a joke, you get zero support as a juror apart from a thank you in the courtroom, and no security arriving or leaving court. Unfortunately as you're selected from a cross-section of people in the area you can end up serving with some not very nice people either. I'd do my best to get out of it next time.

480Widdio · 16/12/2021 17:57

Yes,did it once and was summoned again last year.I didn’t t do that one,got out of it for genuine health reasons.

Brenna24 · 16/12/2021 17:58

DH and I have each been summoned twice bit neither of us has actually been selected.

Gargellen · 16/12/2021 17:59

A work colleague did it. New evidence kept being admitted and then it went on for months. She was sequestered for a fair proportion of it and I had to do all of her work too. Nearly bloody killed me!

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 16/12/2021 17:59

I've done jury duty three times. A month long murder trial and two assault cases which lasted about a week each.

I've also been called for selection another couple of times but wasn't picked.

The food is awful and some fellow jurors are thick as mince.

jackstini · 16/12/2021 18:00

Both my parents have been called (UK)

Mum was only in court for about 1.5 days over the whole 2 weeks
My Dad got a fairly nasty child abuse case and was on for 5 weeks

FireworkParrot · 16/12/2021 18:00

I only know one person that has done it, my friend sat on a rape trial which was obviously distressing but she said extremely interesting with long periods of boredom and waiting around too.

I know of another that was called but asked not to do it (can't remember the reason.)

I can never decide whether I'd like to do it or not but I suppose I'll see whether I ever get called.

JayAlfredPrufrock · 16/12/2021 18:01

I did it and bloody loved it.

Dull cases though.

EatSleepRantRepeat · 16/12/2021 18:01

@annonymousse

I've done it once. It was a bit surreal as a lot of the evidence was given by video link from another country. It felt like we were watching a tv drama and had to keep reminding myself it was real. We found the defendant guilty and he cried when the verdict was announced. He had a pregnant wife. He totally deserved to go to prison but it was horrible hearing him cry and his poor wife
I agree, knowing you're sending someone to prison and destroying even more lives is horrible. I know sometimes like violent crime it's for public protection, but in other circumstances like accidents / driving deaths and theft or fraud I don't think it's appropriate compared to rehabilitation.
scandikate · 16/12/2021 18:01

My brother in law and my colleague. Both had quite interesting cases and experiences. I would love to do it.

hivemindneeded · 16/12/2021 18:01

I have and my mum has. So has a close friend. She did a one-day cheque fraud case in the local court. I did a two-month grim murder trial at the Old Bailey. I was traumatised for ages afterwards. If you get summoned and offered the local court, don't make excuses. You don't want the Old Bailey.

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 16/12/2021 18:01

I feel massively for the jurors on the Arthur and Star cases. I think you'd have some type of PTSD after sitting through such harrowing evidence. The murder trial I was on made me feel sad about a pointless waste of life, but it didn't haunt me.

nordica · 16/12/2021 18:03

I've done it and can think of quite a few friends and my ex partner who've also done it in the past few years. It was quite an interesting experience!

escapingthecity · 16/12/2021 18:04

DH and SIL have both done it once and got a couple of short cases each. They found it fascinating in parts, with long boring stretches while you wait around to see if you've got a case.

Marmite27 · 16/12/2021 18:04

My husband did it in the summer. My SIL and BIL have both done it too.

chaosrabbitland · 16/12/2021 18:06

i was summoned only once years ago in my early twenties , i had to attend snaresbrook for mine , it was utterly boring as fuck and by the time the two weeks were up i was desperate to get back to work .

i remember reading all the stuff i got at first and its hard to get out of although if i got summoned now id do my damndest to avoid it

Queenie6655 · 16/12/2021 18:06

As someone who has been on the other side

Few things o found interesting from my case

One juror kept passing questions to the judge on a piece of paper while I was on the stand - really was very annoying I must say

Another juror asked a question before we all went in on day 3 and the question caused the case to be adjourned for a year and a half !!!!!!!

The jury were all white and young
Some of them seemed so bored and did not try to disguise it 😢😢

Original poster
Soubriquet · 16/12/2021 18:07

Yes I bet some of those jurors will really suffer from PTSD or some other form. Evidence we won’t see will be seen by them and I dread to think what they have seen. And that’s just those cases. There are so many difficult and horrible cases that probably haunt most former jurors lives

OP posts:
RedWingBoots · 16/12/2021 18:11

The first person I know who did it was when we were 18. He had just turned 18. He said he had ended up being the foreman of the jury as no-one else wanted to do it He ended up in the Court right next to our college.

Then loads of people I know were exempt due to their jobs e.g. head teacher, SEN teacher, doctors until a few years ago. Then loads of them all got called up within 18 months of each other.

What surprised me is that while people lived within a mile of each other and in the same London borough is that they got called to attend a completely different Court in London.

I've never been called up.