I did jury service once. It was both boring and shocking. Boring because you spend an inordinate amount of time hanging around, waiting to be called. Doesn't start till 10.30 and finishes at 4 (always thought that if they worked 'normal' office hours then we wouldn't have the backlog of cases we apparently have today!).
But also truly shocking. First case I sat on, the defendant was a young black woman. Prosecution case was as dodgy as fuck, i.e. all witnesses gave different versions of events. On legal grounds, therefore, we were bound to find her not guilty as we couldn't rule 'beyond reasonable doubt'.
All 12 of us troop into the jury room. The other thing that was shocking was no instruction as to how we to go about things, beyond electing a foreman - just left to it. Anyway. We all sit down - 12 strangers - and the very first thing that was said, by one of the men was - and I'm quoting verbatim, as I've never forgotten it - "well you can tell she's guilty, these black people are all the same." 😮
The problem was, (apart from that being absolutely horrific to hear), that from then on, I was determined to find the woman innocent. Which is just as prejudiced really. TBH it was obvious from the evidence that she was innocent, thankfully.
It made me hope that I never end up committing or being charged with a crime that finds me in a jury room with 12 of my 'peers'!