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?

With regards to childcare, I was told that if I had an Ofsted registered childminder, they would pay the full two weeks upfront directly to them. If I had a friend/relative do it they would only accept an invoice for the time I was at court plus reasonable travelling time. MIL looked after DS for the three weeks, and we put in an invoice for £5 an hour, and it was a nice tidy sum for her. (She put it in DS's account) We also got a small allowance for food, and lots of people bought in packed lunches and got the cash back for that too. (Not me, I loved the novelty of someone cooking for me) With travel expenses they only wanted one set of travel tickets so if I got a lift in it was a bonus.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed jury service, but I wouldn't mind doing it again.

I got my jury service letter today

I got one a few weeks ago but the dates in late June weren't good so I asked them if they could bring it forward

It's now the beginning of June

Bit of a pain, it will be like working full time and at the moment I don't but civic duty and all that

My sister recently did jury service and very narrowly escaped being on the jury for a very highly publicised Paedophilia trial. She ended up sitting on quite a distressing case anyway, but said she was beyond glad to escape the very high profile case. She's very sensitive, I'm pretty sure that would have permanently affected her.

The expenses do go up

First 10 days 4 hours or under £32.47
First 10 days Over 4 hours £64.95
Day 11 to day 200 4 hours or under £64.95
Day 11 to day 200 Over 4 hours £129.91
After day 201 4 hours or under £114.03
After day 201 Over 4 hours £228.06

I wonder what the overall attendance for jury service is. Lots of people seem to be excused.

Oh lordy Id love a year long trial! 9-5 or there abouts mon-fri. Miles better than my current seven day any hours rota.

Ive done JS once before, when I was about 22,23, and really enjoyed it even though the case was sickening. It took 7 of the ten days I was expected to be there and we were allowed to not come back for the final three days.

These threads are always interesting.

Most people if asked say they want to keep jury trial. Many people say if prosecuted they'd like to have a jury trial.

But in reality, most people don't want to do it and seem to resent it. Loads of people lie and dodge to avoid it (though that is an offence in itself). Lots of people who have done it feel very disillusioned about it.

Barring conscription, in this country citizens have to do basically nothing to serve their country, except pay taxes and do jury service. Lots of people just don't want to do make even that minimal contribution. You aren't even required to vote. It's a bit sad really. And it makes me think we should consider scrapping jury trial altogether.

As someone who works 'in the system', I am finding this thread very interesting, albeit there are a lot of misconceptions. It is true that in England and Wales, police officers, barristers, judges etc. are not exempt from serving on a jury, but it is a bit bonkers as of course these people have additional knowledge. It is one of the fascinating things of the system that you never know the backgrounds of those serving.
And yes, jurors are drawn from a box of their names by the court clerk. Minimum of 15 to select 12. Sometimes though problems can arise with more than three of them, which mean a jury can't be sworn. This is why, ideally, there are often more than 15 to choose from.
A friendly word of advice - probably best not to talk about goings-on in the jury room re:individual cases that might be identifiable from the facts you give. One poster in particular gave quite a lot of detail.

ahh that's the difference. In Scotland police officers & many police staff are exempt from Jury Duty

catsize I remember that was the rules (hopefully I'm not your concern, if I am please tell me and I'll get it deleted ASAP!).

my service was 15 years ago, still remember one or two eye-opening things but as you say, best not detailed!

and yes, it is a pain, but we don't have many civic duties and it is the best option, I think.

What do people think about having 'professional' juries? So for example lawyers or some kind of trained legal profession who get paid a proper wage to be on the jury?

That way you would get people who actually understand the arguments and would treat it with respect and diligence, not as something to be endured and an inconvenience.

Obviously there would be problems but it's interesting to consider.

I don't want to have to do jury duty due to the impact on my life (financial and otherwise) however I would give it my full attention and try my best to do a good job. No site I would be able to follow the prosecution / defence in a very complicated case though. Now would be better for me to do it than later as i don't have any children yet.

Would maybe be good if you could say 'now is a good time to do my duty' and get picked. But then you have the problem of people wanting to do it for the wrong reasons.

Currently juries are not exactly representative if you can get out if ones longer than 2 weeks if you have a busy job!

No, not you specialsubject.
And yes, professional juries (or no jury at all) have been mooted for a while, especially for complex fraud cases etc.

I would love to do jury service as I'm wildly curious but I can't due to a medical condition. (I was called once and excused so I know this is the case.)