I was discussing this with my hairdresser today and wonder what the answer is.
I am in Scotland but I don’t think my question will be regional. I have been called for jury duty at the start of March. I have done it once before 25 or so years ago. It was a big murder case in Edinburgh. It made the news at the time. We found the guy guilty. Later it came out in the news about his previous history, charges and time in jail. I am pretty sure I learnt about his background via the news and not from the court.
When I did that trial, we didn’t have social media. There was no searching for defendants on Facebook or on google and the news. We knew we couldn’t talk about the case with anyone outside the jury room but, from memory, that was it. How does it work now. Most court information is online. Even Facebook pages and groups can and do have people hung drawn and quartered at arrest stage.
To be clear, I won’t be going online to search the defendant on receipt of his or her name. I just wondered how the courts stop those on the jury doing just that when they get home at night and before the court case concludes therefore possibly clouding their judgement.