Jury Service- what to expect

[nj32]

Jury Service Uk, has anyone done it recently and can give an idea on what to expect. Have heard a few different things about multiple groups including one that stays at home waiting to be called?

Good to see some people have had positive experiences. It totally destroyed any sense I had of England having a functioning justice system. Appallingly wasteful - of space, judges’ time, barristers’ time, all the court staff and above all jurors’ time. I was being paid, but several freelance people I chatted with were substantially out of pocket. Similarly with childcare costs.

We were read the riot act on day 1 and told a courtroom costs thousands a day so we must turn up, even if ill. But the courtrooms were in full use with a jury present about 5% of the time at most, due to debates about process or one of the required parties not being present.

So the advice re book/ knitting/ laptop is all good. There was even a game of Twister in the little library area of our waiting room!

My first experience of jury service, over 30 years ago now, was dreadful. Very little information or help for jurors. Stupid and overtly racist fellow jurors, many of whom couldn't grasp that we had to listen to the evidence rather than give a verdict based on someone's colour
I vowed after that, that if I ever committed a crime, I wouldn't want my case to be tried by a jury!

This time around it was completely different - loads of information before attending court, very helpful and pleasant officials and my fellow jurors were all at pains to discuss the evidence and debate everything thoroughly before we agreed on our verdicts.

I did it some years ago - found it very interesting and generally reassuring as to the system. There was a lot of sitting about waiting in the jury room, so be sure to take a good book! There were jigsaws provided!

We were very strongly warned about any attempt to Google the defendant, or to discuss the case with anyone.

On the notice board was an article about a juror who’d been found to have investigated the defendant online - she ended up with 8 months inside. A university lecturer - you’d think she might have had more sense. Sheer arrogance, maybe…

Both judges (two cases) impressed on us that if we had the slightest doubt, we must return a Not Guilty verdict. Obviously this would probably mean quite a few Guilty going free, but to me that is preferable to the other way around.

My mum did it and spent the entire time reading a book and was never actually called

I did it around eight years ago. We found not guilty in a teenager on child sexual assault case. It was screamingly apparent from day 2 that something was very wrong regarding the accusations, but you’re not allowed to discuss with anyone, least of all your fellow jury members, and it played with my head more than a bit that maybe no-one else saw what I saw or that maybe I was very wrong. The teenager had a very successful life ahead of him. The child needed help. I do think about the child fairly often.

And you're not supposed to talk about what goes on in the jury discussion.

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/discussing-the-trial
After the trial you must not talk about what happened in the deliberation room, even with family members. You can talk about what happened in the courtroom.

To add, I found the court process fascinating. The details of the case were traumatic and it took several weeks to get them out of my thoughts.

I have done it recently. I wouldn’t take in craft such as knitting or sewing as you can’t take in pointy objects such as as knitting or sewing needles or scissors. Have a good look at everything you are taking in with you for example if say your blusher or eye shadow in your make up bag has a mirror in it, it will be taken from you and you will need to sign for it at the end of the day to get it back. Everything you take in will be gone through even the coins in your purse. One poor fellow juror was a larger lady who really needed her deodrant regularly through the day and was told she couldn’t have it. In the end after lots of going back and forth it was agreed the jury reception desk could hold on to it go her and she could use right in front of them and everyone else and then hand it back to them and then she could get it back at the end of the day. I felt so sorry for her as it felt quite humiliating.

With this in mind pack your bag carefully as going through security takes ages (think a much more thorough version of airport secuity) all iPad and iPhone were checked, everything out of your bag and gone through. Even people with loose tobacco the security people ran their fingers through the tobacco. One guy had a miniature tape measure keyring on his keys his kids had given him for Christmas and that was taken. I found grouping things inside my rucksack in clear bags helpful. So I had a clear bag of food and snacks, clear bag of laptop and phone chargers etc. Then they let me just get the clear bags out and put them in the trays for scanning otherwise you have so many loose items to repack in your bag with the pressure of a queue that will be out of the door at busy times. If you smoke every time you want to go outside for a cigarette you will have to go through the rescanning process to get back in. Jurors who smoked ended up leaving bags etc with a trusted fellow juror as otherwise going through security and getting everything out each time was such an ordeal.

Take food with you the small amount you get in food allowance does not cover lunch a drink and a snack in the jury canteen.

It is so terrible boring a lot of waiting but equally never knowing when you are going to be called and when you are no time to quickly eat, even going to the loo was tricky as when you were called you were expected to go to the court room very quickly. Due to this I found it very difficult to concentrate on work or even a show on my iPad, I ended up getting to know the others in the jury very well as we chatted a lot as that was the easiest way to pass the time. That was the most interesting bit as it’s rare to get to know people over quite a few days with so many hours to kill within a group of diverse people where not a single person knows each other.

I did it a couple of years ago. I did 2 separate cases over 2 weeks. Both SA cases.
The rooms that they put you in had a toilet that the whole jury had to share.
I would say, be prepared to encounter the defendents when you are going in and out of the building/security. Very awkward.
It was also cheaper for me to get to the court than me going to work normally and I could claim back my bus ticket and £5 a day food expense. The court paid the daily rate and my employer topped up the difference to my normal pay.

I would also add that for the case I was on, the judge's directions were very thorough and clear. We were given something called, I think, the path to a verdict to help us. It's up to individual juries how they organise themselves and as foreperson I tried to ensure everyone was included and given an opportunity to speak. Not everyone wanted to of course.

@Florin that security process is very different from my experience. Bag scan was only done on day 1. People were definitely knitting and nothing was confiscated. We had an airport type scanner to walk through every day, but it wasn’t staffed other than at the start of the day. If you went out to smoke or get lunch you just walked back in with no checks.

Security wasn't like that at Kingston Crown Court either. You did get your bag scanned, and you had to walk through the x-ray-type machine (as in airports), but nothing as thorough as @Florin experienced. If you take a drink in with you, you will be asked to take a sip of it. (Obviously they don't make you open sealed containers like cans of fizzy drinks).

Make sure you haven’t got a compact mirror in your bag as they won’t be allowed through security. My underwired bra set the scanners off each time I went through.

@BIWI @partystress mine was only just over a year ago and it wasn’t a London court orlike a super major one but security was taken very seriously. The queues were a nightmare in the morning and you had to get there early otherwise risk being late. It of course also rained every day which meant queuing outside in the rain!