To wonder how jury service works

[Bearbehind]

On the news tonight there was an article about the Hillsborough enquiry and it said it is expected to last at least for the rest of the year.

How do they select the jury for that?

Standard way - called for Jury Duty, randomly selected, asked if there is any reason you cannot be jury on that particular case (know personally etc), serve. They pay your wage and costs.

But if you earn quite a high wage, do they pay it or is it just a standard payment?

I've been called for jury service before but never actually had to attend.

I can't imagine my employers being terribly happy if they knew I'd be out for the rest of the year.

What do they do about holidays and childcare though? If you choose to be a sahp, does the state force you to put your kids in nursery anyway?

They don't pay your wage as far as I am aware but they do pay some costs. It would be horrendous if I had to do jury service as to pay to replace my services would be very expensive.

I phoned up about child care once and they said they would provide some. They said having young children was not an excuse not to do jury service.

DH was called for jury duty at the old Bailey on a long case,, and his employers weren't happy at all, and it was awful when he went back, even though he'd kept in touch.

The amount you can claim for loss of earnings is capped at about £65 a day, plus travel and childcare allowances

When I did jury service they paid my wage, and they would have paid any expenses, like public transport, but I walked.
As it was I made money on the deal as I could walk to the court rather than spend £60 a week on the train.
I think that there is an upper limit to the amount you can claim though. At that time I was on only just over MW so it was OK.

I live by where they are holding the inquests. Me and my DC like to feed the ducks at the pond near by
They select a jury randomly, you can claim for expenses and the longer the case the more they can claim. If it goes over 201 days they can claim over £100 a day in extra expenses. You can veto a jury selection but I'm fairly sure you have to have a concrete reason for doing so, not just "work is busy at the moment" or something like that.

That what I wondered CMOT. I earn quite a lot more than that per day- it could be a nightmare if you happened to be called for a long case.

I thought (and I could well be wrong!) that if it's going to last past a certain length of time (couple of months?) you could get de-selected off that particular case because of work commitments.

It really sucks though. I was called up in my early 20s but it was the last fortnight before Christmas so nothing happened and they literally only had about 2 trials running. Not even a whiff of being selected! I was working for an agency at the time and the massive company where I worked were very unimpressed at me having 2 weeks off. My department even gave me a leaving card . I worked another 8 months for the company...

My manager got called. Her boss wrote a pleading letter to get off it. It worked but only temporarily and she did it a year later.

when I did jury service there was a potentially long trial - we all had to say if we could be available for longer than the two weeks we'd been called for, and only those people who said yes were put into the pool for the longer trial. The rest of us got the couple of days, maybe a week trials

The amount you can claim for lost earnings is capped and employers have to release you. You can apply to defer service (I did when I had cancer) but it's random and you get called again a year later. My ex Bil was on the jury of a long running fraud case that wa big news some years ago for almost a whole year. He was a black taxi driver in London and worked nights and weekends to make up money except when they were sequestered (kind of locked away in a hotel) from time to time. It stank as my sis worked full time with 2 youngster dcs

I'm all for doing your civic duty, I've sat on a jury for a five week trial myself, but a year? No way I could do that.

if u have legal cover on house insurance it covers u for loss of earnings on jury service I lost out as earn more than the Max they pay but was not enough to bother with a claim

Some companies (I work for a multinational that does) pay your the difference in your wage if you do jury duty. As does the public sector I think.

It would be interesting to investigate the make up of juries to see if civil servants etc are over represented.

So how does it work? Can literally anybody over 18 be called to do it?

Yep.

I thought you had to have voted to be "on the poll" but I mught be wrong.

I thought you had to be on the electoral roll or am I making that up? How else would they get your name and corresponding address?

You can request deferral but you will get asked again at a later date, and you won't have the option to defer again.

They make you all stand in a line and the judge calls out the people (s)he reckons look most trustworthy and like they won't mess around. Also to make sure no one involved in the trial recognises / knows anyone on the jury.

I believe you get more money per day for longer trials, but it's still not much. Some companies (like mine) pay the difference so you still get full salary.

If you own your own business you can defer, but again, like before, you can only defer once. You have to jump through a lot of hoops to prove that you can't do jury service (there are some rules that mean you may not have to do it, like being a police officer).

If it is an enquiry it won't have a jury. Enquiries are investigations to establish facts but no one is on trial. Enquiries are usually presided over by a judge but he isn't sitting in a judicial capacity.

Persons involved in what happened will be called to give evidence and are likely to be questioned by the judge and they might have legal representation but no one is on trial.

Sorry above is about what happens in an enquiry, it's not an enquiry but new inquests, which will need juries. Enquiries and inquests are not the same.

Any one over 18 can be called up for jury service. Criminal convictions above a certain level will bar you from sitting.

I don't know about England but there are many ineligible categories which if you fall into you must declare you are ineligible. Any one with a law degree whether practising or not or active or retired, involved with the justice system,members of the judiciary, solicitors, police, prison officers, procurator fiscals and court staff, Sheriff Officers and members of the Children's Panel are all ineligible.

There is also a category who are eligible but can ask to be excused. This includes members of the armed forces, MPs, MSPs, doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, vets and the clergy.

I did 2 weeks a few years ago. I was very lucky in that it was near to where I worked and I could park in my works car park and not incur costs. There was very limited amounts you could claim. I think for a day it was £65 for earnings loss ? I was lucky in that my firm paid the rest of my normal wages. I felt very sorry for the people with young children as they had a nightmare arranging childcare and very little paid towards it. Again I was lucky in that my time was so local plus it was January and I didnt have a lot going on outside working hours .... One lady I met had been called up a few years earlier and ended up on a 4 week trial in Nov /Dc and had missed a lot of her Childrens concerts , christmas prep etc. My Dad was pretty envious of me as he has always wanted to do jury service and is now too old.

I was just glad in some ways to get picked as waiting around all the time is very boring and glad to miss the murder trial that went on in another court.