Jury

[AutumnalRose]

Hello. I've had my summons to do jury duty in the next few months - I'm so excited!
As any of you done it, and how did you find it?

Oh really. Oh dear, and to think those people where deciding on the fate 😶
Yes, it is important role imo

I'm sorry to hear this. But I'm grateful for your honesty. And it does bring me back to earth and make me realize that it might end up being something harrowing.

I’d LOVE to do jury duty! I’m with you OP on finding it interesting and fascinating. However DH did jury duty once and also reported that his fellow jurors were unable to comprehend the law and seemed to think that because they felt sorry for the person the crime was not a problem (it involved a gun!)

I’m so jealous! I’m desperate to jury duty but never been called up!

You might want to find out what your local Crown Court specialises in. They're not all the same and our local one does a lot of sex cases, so rape, child rape. Not sure I'd be very excited..

Bloody hell! It's mad t think those sorts of folk are given responsibility of deciding on a guilty or not decision.

I was on one last week. Waited around for 5 hours on the first day and got interesting case. Had about 5 hours in total in court over a couple of days because of pressure on the courtrooms. Then on the third day they discovered that too many jury members weren’t able to stay into the next week, so they adjourned the trial and sent us packing. I am so pissed off. I completely rearranged my summer to accommodate it and it was an utter waste of time. And the poor family involved have already waited 5 years and have had the case thrown back into the system.

You never know, hopefully your summons will arrive soon

Thank you, that's good advice, I'll have a look.

Oh no that's awful!

I have name changed as I work in the criminal justice system and don't want to be recognised from pervious posts.

Jury service does involve a lot of waiting around, being brought into court to be kicked out again and sometimes waiting around to never enter court. It can be frustrating as a juror (I have been one) and the reasons for delays etc are not always explained to a jury which can make it more frustrating.

They call more jurors than needed as some longer trials start with 14 jurors, they need "back ups" if jurors attend and have reasons they cannot sit in trial such as knowing the defendant or witnesses etc or reasons such as childcare preventing them. They may have trials listed that are expected to start but then when crunch time hits the defendant offers a plea. This means a jury isn't needed and the trials on stand by to jump in the gap won't necessarily be able to start that day causing a delay.

There is often legal argument which jury cannot be privy to. This is where the defence or prosecution raise something with the judge. The judge needs to decide on how to proceed before calling them back in. It is unavoidable in many cases as things crop up as witnesses give evidence.

There are many harrowing cases that come into court and I see it time and again where jurors come in eager or annoyed to be there only to be told what the case is about and seeing their faces drop, eyes well up and a bracing themselves for what to come.

It's can be a lot of information especially fraud cases and some of it very complex. You then need to come to an agreement with 11 other adults who have their own minds, opinions and emotion and need to try leave the emotion at the door to deliver justice. It's a huge weight on someone's shoulders to carry. It is interesting but be prepared for it not to be easy. You will never get all the answers you want as a juror and that can be frustrating.

I recommend visiting a court and sitting in a public gallery if you want to see what goes on throughout.

I had two cases:
Sexual assault by an adult male over several years with his stepdaughter (she was aged from 8-13). She reported it several years later

Violence and machete attack in one male by five assailants

We sent everyone to Prison! It was a nice feeling!

Thank you for your reply. This is very interesting and helpful to know, especially from someone who has done the jury duty but also who works in the legal environment.
Your honest reply makes me realize that while it's ok to be eager, my opinion my change about being excited may very well change while there.

Jesus! Awful cases, but certainly an outcome that was needed.

I recommend visiting a court and sitting in a public gallery if you want to see what goes on throughout

I was about to post similar.
You don't have to wait to be called up to do jury duty to see what goes on in court.
A few times, I have gone to my local magistrates court, and watched a few cases. It is very interesting. One guy was there watching as he was passing the time whilst his car was getting MOTd.
There was one case where a prisoner was meant to be showing up in court, and he was "lost" in transit. Never found out what happened there.

I did it. Was very excited to have 2 weeks off work to sit in a waiting room and read my book. As it happened I was called almost as I walked through the door. Had a human trafficking case with a lot of the evidence being given by video link from a different country. Had to keep reminding myself it was real life and not a tv drama. It was all being reported on the local news and tv cameras and reporters outside court. Overall it was a surreal experience and the defendant was sent down.

Done it twice. There's a lot of hanging around so take a book or two and you're not guaranteed to get a trial, or if you do, anything remotely interesting

I did Jury Service a few years ago. It was a murder trial of an incident that happened quite close to where I lived. It made me realise what a privileged life I lead that I had no idea such terrible things happen in my area. I found it really interesting, and felt that the whole of the jury took it really seriously. We found the defendants guilty, and after the sentencing the police thanked some of us for what we had listened to and the decision that we made. You don't automatically go to the sentencing , which will happen a few weeks after the trial but a few of us chose to go back to listen to the judge.

I've been called twice. The first time was fortysomething years ago, and was a gross indecency case. We spent 2 or 3 days studying maps of a public lavatory to try and decide if the police sergeant who wandered in and said "'ello 'ello 'ello what's going on 'ere then" could actually have seen what he said he'd seen.

Yep, I agree, similar to my experience.

I found that 2 jurors didn't even understand the oath they'd taken.

I was on jury service when I was 19 back in 1986. I think it ridiculous that I had power over someone’s life when I was so young and stupid.
I found it so boring and the court room was airless. I actually caught myself nodding off two or three times and had to pinch myself to stay awake. I was terrified the judge might have seen and I would be in terrible trouble but thankfully that didn’t happen.
I cringe when I look back at my gullible attitude to the accused’s defence argument which was clearly utter bollocks as I later found out after he was found guilty by majority and the history of his previous convictions came to light. The rest of the jurors must have loathed me!

Exactly this. I'm sorry OP but I cannot see why you are so excited about this, and every day I live in fear that I may be called for jury service. I hope I never have to do it for all the horrid reasons everyone else has mentioned. I could die very happy were I never to be called.

If I was called, I would hope & pray that my time was like just about everyone else's who I know - turn up each day, get told you are not needed, sent home by 12, and told at the end of the first week not to come back again as they have plenty of people already.

The jury I was on had a very strong persuasive woman as chair. She had the strong view that he wouldn't have been arrested if he wasn't guilty and the prosecution didn't have to prove their case only to get you to accept he could have done it. I tried to suggest that the prosecution had to prove guilt but that didn't go down well.

Many unlucky jurors here.
Like you, I always hoped I could be included in the justice process at some time during my life.
I was called up about 8 years ago. It took a fair bit of juggling work and childcare but it was well worth it. Not to much hanging around. It was a 9 day trial. One juror had a very different opinion to the rest of us, but that's what it's all about and we had worthwhile conversations (and lots of coffee) in the jury room.
I hope you have an interesting case.

Absolutely loved it! My case lasted about 7 days, I really enjoyed it and want to do it again so much!