Do you know anyone who has done jury duty?

[Soubriquet]

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?

I did in 2008, I know plenty other people that have been called up and done it at least once

I did it years ago - for 2 weeks.

I loved it (non traumatic cases) and made friends with the other jurors

I did it, I found it SO interesting. My mum and dad have done it too - DH is desperate to!

I know dozens of people who have done it. I haven’t been called yet but I find it a bit weird that I can be now living in the UK- as a lawyer in NZ where’re I’m from you’re exempt as solicitors are “officers of the court” so can’t sit in another role. My husband has done it and didn’t let on for the whole two weeks to the other jurors that he was a solicitor.

Horrendous typos sorry

We went through a phase years ago where they seemed to be going along our road and most of us were called to different courts. I did a three week case at the Old Bailey and we found all 7 defendants not guilty of various crimes. They were probably guilty but the police didn’t bother to present any evidence. It was a total waste of public money and I was a teacher at the time. DH was called to a local court and just told to phone up every day in case they needed him.

I've been called up several times. Been on a jury twice.

I've done it once. Very very boring sitting around in a room with no natural light. Got chosen for one case, then discharged at the end of the first week. I'm self employed and I had turned down work, which I couldn't then recover although I was suddenly free for the second week.

If you are in the pool for a long trial you are allowed to ask to not be picked - you have to give valid reasons. I would have lost a significant ongoing contract, for example.

The actual jury process was interesting. The evidence presented by the prosecution was pretty rubbish and we asked a question to the judge to clarify/ expand on something and were told that we could only consider the case through the evidence that had been presented to us. We all thought the defendant was probably guilty (the plaintiff wasn't much of a good'un either) but because we could only decide from the evidence, we had to find them Not Guilty.

I was called up at 21 but couldn’t do it as was doing a 13 week training course, called up again the next year but was abroad, and then actually did jury service in my 30s.

One trial, and an inquest which was very sad - death after drunken night in pub.

I was surprised how much time wasting went on because some jurors didn’t listen carefully to the judge’s instructions, and questions on bits of white paper, had to be sent up to the judge for confirmation.

@Soubriquet

I’m not sure how I would be able to do it. It’s a horrible situation to be in

You’d do it because it’s your duty as a citizen who believes that participating in the justice system is important, surely?

I’ve done it, DH has done it, both my parents have. A friend just got notified for the new year.

Not that it will help you but I’ve known two people who have done jury duty and ended up with PTSD afterwards. One gruesome gang rape and murder and the other involving murder of a family including all the kids. Supposedly there is some counselling service afterwards linked to the court if you say you need it but they said it was hogwash and did nothing.

My mother did it several years ago. She was very afraid because she said the criminals can see your face, so maybe you can see them in the street some time later and they know it was you who sent them to prison. The cases weren’t upsetting but she was afraid about having her face seen by drug dealers etc.

There was a young juror who she had a nightmare journey getting to the court by public transport on several buses, as she couldn’t drive. She was told that she wasn’t assigned the youth court near her due to her young age. There was a creepy male juror, who rather than deliberate, tried to chat her up and offer her lifts, which she turned down.

Who said

I got called up once, for the Old Bailey! It was cancelled. My manager at the time said that many colleagues were called up but he knew of no-one who actually sat.

My Mum and sister both were called years ago.

One or two colleagues have been off on jury duty but it seems to be quite rare.

I know a few who have done it, but I've never been called.

I did it years ago (90s)
First case was a sexual abuse one which was very traumatic - it turned out that the accused had lots of similar offences.
Second case was a drugs one, the evidence was a huge block of marijuana which got passed round the jury, we were all giggling and got told off by the judge.

It was v interesting, I'd love to be called again.

I never had - but then my partner served recently and my nephew's just been called up.

I’ve been summoned twice, was excused from the first since was BFing a small baby. MiL was a bit hacked off at the time - she’d never been asked and would really have liked to do it.

2nd time was a few years ago, for the standard 2 weeks. I found it very interesting, and very reassuring to see how it all worked - in particular the judges (2 cases) telling us that unless we were 100% sure of someone’s guilt, we must deliver a not guilty verdict. Of course that means some guilty going free, but IMO that’s better than the not guilty being wrongly convicted.

Our first case was about a historic sexual abuse allegation, and at first I wondered how on earth I’d be able to judge, when it was a case of one person’s word against another’s. But over a few days the witnesses did firmly make my mind up.

A dd was summoned once, but at the time she was overseas, working for an NGO in a post-disaster area, so that was the end of that.

A colleague of mine also did it, not long before I did.

I did, maybe 7 years ago. Hated every minute - we got a murder case and it was awful.

My husband did, when I was 38 weeks pregnant. They wouldn't defer it so I was paranoid he'd miss the birth!

(He didn't.)

DH was summoned earlier in the year and had a single (very distressing) case for 7 days. Obviously he didn't tell me anything about it at the time but once the sentencing happened and there was information in the media he was allowed to tell me more details (except for anything about the actual discussions in the jury room). It was horrible

DH did a few years ago. They choose randomly from the electoral register. His case was fascinating, the man on trial had done something serious in its own right and was found guilty. A few weeks or months later a similar case was in the media and unfortunately someone else doing this same thing led to many, many deaths. I'm glad DH was on the one where there weren't any deaths.