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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:
WeAreTheHeroes · 16/12/2021 19:46

I did jury service earlier this year. Jurors are randomly selected from the electoral roll. If the courts in an area are busy, there's more chance of being called more than once.

The case I was on lasted just over two weeks and was harrowing to say the least with eleven counts on the indictment - you have to consider each count individually. I hope never to have to do it again although seeing the legal process in action was very interesting.

MrsSkylerWhite · 16/12/2021 19:47

I have, years ago. Two weeks. Didn’t want to (work seriously didn’t want me to). Very glad I did though, fascinating and a real learning experience.

The Guinness trial was going on at the same time though and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been quite so sanguine if I’d been assigned to that!

topcat2014 · 16/12/2021 19:47

Did it recently. Paedo. Hoping not to ever do it again

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Legal issues
Allaboutyou222 · 16/12/2021 19:48

I’m exempt but 2 mates were called on separate occasions. Both excited that it would be really interesting. I knew it wouldn’t be. One sat through a horrible child rape case that was very upsetting. The other was a months long tax fraud thing,

Be careful what you wish for.

TroysMammy · 16/12/2021 19:49

I've got it for the first time in January. Knowing my luck I'll have a case for two days at the beginning of the week which are my rostered days off work, be discharged and have to go to work for the rest of the week Sad.

GirlOfTudor · 16/12/2021 19:51

My dad did it decades ago.
My husband was summoned last year but wasn't needed in the end due to Covid restrictions. I was absolutely gutted as I've always wanted to do it and was looking forward to living vicariously through him 😂

BertieBotts · 16/12/2021 19:51

I moved away from the UK, but I don't think there's any record of that on UK documents is there? So I always wonder if maybe I get called but I never get the letter whether that would be some kind of terrible mark on me.

Although I have done overseas voting so perhaps they do know I no longer live there.

Thighdentitycrisis · 16/12/2021 19:54

I wonder why some people are called multiple times and others never?

Because it’s random selection

BlueGlasses · 16/12/2021 19:56

This reply has been deleted

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qualitygirl · 16/12/2021 19:58

I did it myself for a and a half week...it was nice to be paid for what was essentially A LOT of waiting around 🤣

MolkosTeenageAngst · 16/12/2021 19:59

The headteacher at a school I used to work at was called for it, she deferred it and then I left but I assume she carried it out at a later date. She is the only person I have ever known he called.

Weeturtles · 16/12/2021 20:01

My dad. Horrible case that really upset him and he doesn't get upset easily.
My partner but the cases were dismissed.

sanitygirl · 16/12/2021 20:02

I've done it twice - about 25 years apart

AHobbyaweek · 16/12/2021 20:03

I have and three others at work I know. My step dad

CharSiu · 16/12/2021 20:04

DH and my sister, my sister had a very young breast fed baby so was let off. DH sat in on a case for two weeks that was a complicated fraud case.

NotMyDayJob · 16/12/2021 20:09

A know of a friend that did but from what he said it wasn't a very interesting case even though it was a Crown court. My brother got summoned but didn't serve in the end (not sure why, possibly they realised he's a dreadful human being).

Most interestingly my grandad did back when capital punishment was still handed down in murder cases. It was a murder case but there wasn't a unanimous verdict.

covilha · 16/12/2021 20:11

I was summoned once and sat through 2 trials so ended up doing more than 2 weeks.
It was interesting as they bring in expert witnesses and the judge was sharp. The other jurors were great too

JustLyra · 16/12/2021 20:12

I did it when I was 19. It was a horrendous case and we were excused for 10 years after. The judge said he would excuse us for life, but he couldn’t. I haven’t been called since though.

I really hope that processes to support jurors after cases have improved. We were just sent on our way with no support and no guidance except “don’t discuss things” after seeing horrific things.

I should also have been excused because of my background (abusive parents) yet I wasn’t.

HerbertChops · 16/12/2021 20:16

I was summoned twice when I was at university and asked to defer, that was 20 years ago. Just got summoned again in October this year and attended. I was selected to sit on a jury (they choose 12 jurors from 15 attendees) and sat on an awful trial, was a sex crime and involved kidnapping. Still glad I did it, felt like I made a difference.

Cakemonger · 16/12/2021 20:18

I did it once for 2 weeks. Case was very difficult subject matter involving a child but was fine in the end as having a job to do made it feel quite 'matter of fact' instead of, say, reading about it in the paper via shock headlines. We were lucky there wasn't any distressing evidence to look at though. Second case was rather farcical and involved a sort of conman/fantasist who'd pretended to be from MI6 who hadn't turned up to his own trial.

MenopauseSucks · 16/12/2021 20:21

The only person, family or friends, I know that's done it is my Dad.
It wasn't anything exciting apparently plus as he'd already retired it wasn't as if he missed any work!

emmetgirl · 16/12/2021 20:23

I did it about 15 years ago. Got onto a jury. Really interesting.

MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 16/12/2021 20:24

The daily ££ allowance is shit - luckily my boss agreed to pay me otherwise I'd have been hugely out of pocket - something like £800 over the 2 weeks! I only have 1 income coming in so I was pretty ticked off at the thought of someone's likely wrong-doing possibly causing me financial hardship.

Only if the case goes over 2 weeks do they increase the allowance to a sensible amount.

They also didn't remotely give a shit that I'm a single parent with an 10yo child who would be walking home from school...not a problem on a daily basis but the court was 20 miles away on a known traffic problem area. So DS could easily have been home for 2 hours alone after school.

Am also a senior manager in a small company and would have had a huge problem with work cover if it was a long drawn out case.

It's difficult to get of these days - I hope I'm never called again.

HairyPotter · 16/12/2021 20:28

I’ve been summoned three times and served twice. Both interesting cases although the first was a death by dangerous driving when I was 22. That was harrowing.

Mimi91 · 16/12/2021 20:31

Both me and my husband have been called up. Weirdly, a month after each other. My husband ended up being sent home as they had too many jurors, but I did 2 cases over 2 weeks. Fortunately, neither case was anything disturbing, found it all very interesting and I remember my heart being in my mouth when the verdicts were being read out.

I'm sure I was told at the time, we could be called up again, but we were allowed to decline to do it for up to two years after.

My grandad also did it years ago. Don't know anybody else in either mine or DH's family...

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