.... to ask about jury service

[stevie69]

I've been called and I just wonder if any of you lovely people had any experience that you could share? Not about your specific cases, of course: about the process, what I can expect, how it feels to be in a position of such responsibility — that kind of stuff.

Big thanks in advance.

I got called for the first time earlier this year - sat one case all the way through, and was called as part of the 'pick' for three other cases but wasn't randomly selected on all three occasions.

Our court allowed you to use phones / iPad / laptop in the waiting area. You had to switch them off when in the court-room; and they were taken off us and locked away when we were in the deliberating-room.

I was called up at 22. Spent about 4 days waiting round; then did a case which lasted over a week, then one day waiting round before i was told to go.

The waiting room at our court had pool tables, desks, sofas, a tv. Canteen with preloaded card (which you get credited to your bank if you dont spend it).

What got me was the judge impresses on you at the start that if found guilty it has to be beyond all reasonable doubt. If there is any element of doubt whatsoever, you have to find not guilty.

How do you get paid?

You can claim a small amount of expenses in lieu of earnings, cannot remember the amount but it's on a gov.uk page, I do know that it's not a lot. We had a paper form to update every day / complete at the end of the week, which was handed to the Clerk for processing; my lunch expenses came through by BACs about a week later.

From my experience if you have 'booked' holidays you can get out of a case if it is likely to be on during your holiday.

I found it interesting, there was some waiting around but after the first day, this was always in the jury room, so we mainly just chatted to each other or read books/magazines (no phones allowed).

We got given lunch, soup, sandwiches, yoghurt etc in the canteen, were not allowed to leave the building and nobody brought their own food. In the end our case was dismissed after a week, for lack of evidence, so we did not get to deliberate, which for me would have been the most interesting part...

Everybody seemed to take their duty quite seriously and there was a wide mix of ages and fairly even gender split. You are not allowed to discuss any details of the case with anyone or look it up online etc, also avoid reading newspapers/TV news etc if it's a major case.

The case could be anything from robbery to rape or murder or a complicated fraud case - but they will tell you roughly what it is about before the jury is selected and will also name the accused and ask you if you know them. We had two or three times as many people called as were needed, so you may not be selected. Obviously I was, but if not you may have to go back on 1 or 2 other days that week to possibly be selected for other trials.

"When you go in there usually a video explains the process. You do get a paid meal allowance plus petrol and parking or bus fare, paid after the trial"

This has left some on low incomes who have done jury service seriously out of pocket while waiting to be paid back. Some are MNers who have posted about it on here in the past. Doing a civic duty should not put people at risk of debt/lack of food/homelessness.

Depending on the court you might be served a sit down lunch, I remember being very well fed!
It's unlikely the case will be from the locale as they don't risk you knowing anyone involved.

It's important that working age people do do their part and don't try to get out of it 'for work' etc, as juries do end up being skewed towards retirees who as a group do have prejudices (studies show, not my opinion!)

There's a super interesting podcast about the US system called More Perfect, the one on juries is fascinating.

I did 4 weeks on a GBH case with 4 defendants. It was really interesting, and each defendant had their own lawyer. I did, however, find them quite patronising how they spoke to the jury, and it was all quite theatrical.
I was fore(wo)man of the jury, which I took very seriously and enjoyed. We never reached unanimous, and the judge said he'd take 11:1 which was what we ended up with. However, standing up to announce three 'guiltys' was very nerve racking, especially when one of the defendants went crazy and started towards one of the police officers involved.
All in all though a great experience and no waiting around for me at all. I also claimed self employed expenses and got paid reasonably quickly. It is such a rare opportunity, take pride in it.

I always wonder about those long cases in terms of the jury. The Paddy Jackson case lasted for nine weeks. I’m a teacher - a nine week trial would be almost an entire term’s teaching lost. How do people cope with simply stepping out of their lives for that length of time?

You can easily be out of pocket - we had to pay for extra childcare and didn't get the full amount back. I can imagine if money was tight that would be very difficult.

I wanted an interesting case and got ire than I bargained for!

My DH was called last year. He waited around for 3 days, on one day he was about to be sworn in on a case but the defendant changed their plea to guilty at the last minute, so he was told he wouldn’t be needed until the following Monday. On that Monday he was sworn in but then the case collapsed due to a lack of evidence so he was dismissed.

So be prepared for a lot of waiting around and also for the possibility that you might not actually ever be needed!

Spent two weeks knitting blankets for a Romanian orphanage. Never got called for any cases. Bring books/kindle etc.

Was given an allowance of £5 per day for food. Bus fare paid for.

My employers (nhs) tried to get me to work the weekend after spending 5 days in court. I asked the usher about this and she knew instantly I worked for the nhs. I think that’s why I was always called in.

Agree with the waiting around and taking book and iPad.

I found it fascinating and although the entire jury in my serious case thought the defendant was guilty, we agreed we couldn’t return that verdict as the (prosecuting) CPS had been so appalling they had not proved the case.

So it was a sad eye-opener to how lousy the COS can be.

Really enjoyed my two weeks jury service- two different trials and very different cases. I would be more than happy to do it again anytime!

@MeridianB - I almost had exactly the same thing, except we sort of got him on a technicality. I really wanted to tell the CPS that the verdict was in spite of their useless barrister, not because of him.

To further demonstrate CPS incompetence, I had another case which started with some video "evidence". At the end of the video, the prosecution barrister stood up and said to us, "that's actually the first time I've seen this video, and the defendant is clearly not guilty, please acquit him". The mind boggles.

DP was called last year, he was 22 and was a bit blindsided and worried. But, he really enjoyed it. Said it was mostly waiting around so he got to watch Netflix, read a new book, get some work done.
There's a lot of getting called up for it not to go through and you sit back down.
He had quite a serious case and said he lost a bit of faith in the judicial system because of how stupid some members of the jury were... just try to be fair, don't vote straight away, have an open discussion and consider all sides, go over the evidence more than once so you don't misunderstand anything, don't let anyone exhaust or bully you into putting in a non-guilty or guilty vote- stick to your guns.

I've done it twice - the first time I was 19, the second time I was 22. Different courts as I'd moved areas the second time. First time I got sent home the first couple of days then got selected for a trial. We sat for a couple of (shot) days and then got sent home until the following week as the judge had other commitments! It was quite an interesting case but we couldn't reach a verdict at all as the jury was split 7:5. I got selected for a second case but then it collapsed at the last minute so we were dismissed towards the end of the second week. The second time was a lot more waiting around and being sent home in the afternoons. Towards the end of the week I got picked for a short trial which lasted an afternoon. We got dismissed at the end of the first week as the court building was being refurbished and there wasn't enough space for all the jurors and less trials were being held.

Completely agree about taking stuff for the hanging around, but if you are called for a case be aware that, when he jury's sent out, you may get the best illustration ever of 12 people who all apparently heard something different

On mine, we had a juror who kept changing her verdict because of something she "just felt" but without being able to say why, one who declared the whole thing to be a police stitch-up and that the defendant wasn't even there (even though he admitted he was) and a third who only really wanted to discuss the legitimacy of the entire jury system

All in all it felt like I'd stumbled into some lost world layer

I did jury service a couple of years ago when I was pregnant. The first couple of days were a bit boring I didn't get a case so was just waiting around not able to leave. There were puzzles and books etc Wednesday we went home early after the cases for the day were called. They gave us(the ones who weren't on a case yet) a number to call for the fourth day and we didn't need to go in Thursday or Friday. The next monday I got a called in but not picked for one case and then I got my name called again to go down and that time I got a case. It was very interesting but when it came to deliberating we picked up loads of stuff that had been missed. When you go into deliberate any devices phones etc have to be locked in a safe. Unfortunately we couldn't come to an agreement on it so we got called back in and the judge asked if we could come to a majority verdict (10 out of 12) instead of a unanimous verdict. We still couldn't unfortunately so we were dismissed. It was a shame.

Overall I enjoyed the experience though.

They paid for my additional childcare, food, train tickets. My work said if it was just the 2 weeks they would pay me but after that I would have to claim for that too. It didn't overrun.

Used to work in this area.

Agreed that there is a LOT of waiting around and being brought in and out of court. Take books, puzzles, etc as it can get boring. Bring extra snacks for break time as heard some courts offer lunch money that doesn't cover a huge amount.

There's no need to dress smart. I mean, don't go in pyjamas, but general weekend wear is fine. many courts have very hard wooden old fashioned bench seating, and even in the more comfortable ones you're sat straight upright unmoving for hours on end. Comfort is key. You're just going to be fidgeting and hot in a blazer, shirt and tight trousers, so wear what's comfy.

Someone asked about a day off during a trial - you're unlikely to get one on a short trial. They tend to only be given on long trials and after several weeks, only if absolutely necessary. They wouldn't give one day off in a three day trial - they'll either not choose you or remove you and carry on. You having a day off isn't you alone - the whole trial will have to halt for the day as the entire jury need to be present throughout. If you have a funeral to go to, tell them at the start of your service. They'll hopefully defer you to serve another time.

Once saw a juror who thought she could just have a duvet day and "catch up from the others" the next day. Needless to say judge wasn't impressed and had her promptly brought to court!

If you have holidays etc booked, take ALL info and flight confirmations with you on your first day. That means you'll likely be excused if there's say a 6 month long trial they want jurors for. Same goes for those with (genuinely) no alternative childcare, the self employed and those whose work couldn't spare them for that long. (As an aside, once saw a "famous" soap actress get her service deferred as she had "some very important storylines coming up" 😂)

Number one rule is DO NOT Google the case or defendant or post about it on social media/talk loudly outside court surrounded by the defendants family, or decide to send a flirty Facebook message to a copper giving evidence you've taken a shine too... unbelievably I've seen all this happen (not that you lovely MNrs would do so) and it's led to million pound trials collapsing and jurors being held in contempt of court!

It's not always doom and gloom. Many judges and barristers will try to explain it all and make you comfortable. Follow the judges lead and not what you've seen on tv on how to approach the case. Good luck!

Do ensure you have enough to read/do for the entire day because you can be kept waiting all day.
When I did jury service it was a fraud case. The fraudster was clearly guilty, but, during deliberations we (the remaining 9 jurors) had to contend with three women who felt (for no logical reason - the evidence was clearly there ) the person on trial couldn't have done it and they felt sorry for the person on trial - who, it has to be said, did a very good sob story of reasons why they were innocent, none of which stacked up with the actual evidence.... good enough acting to be on EastEnders!
We had almost 3 whole days of deliberations on this. Frankly it was hell. We had 2 blokes who just sat there and never gave any input, and the remaining 7 of us all saying x happened y happened therefore z happened therefore this very nice person HAS to be guilty because they knew about x, y and z, the proof is in statement or evidence a, b, & c etc etc

Had the person being prosecuted made a certain statement to the people being defrauded right at the start of the saga then that person could actually have got away with it, but instead they dug a hole around a lie and got deep and deeper into it, and of course the longer it had gone on the easier it was to show the guilt.

It was only when someone (not me) on the jury came up with the fab idea of doing an an anonymous paper vote as to guilty or not we found we had managed to sway one of the three 'oh but I can't believe this person actually did fraudulently obtain £KK because they seem such a nice person' to actually voting according to the evidence given in court.
Such a relief to say we had come to a majority 10:2 decision.

While I enjoyed sitting in court listening to the evidence I found 1/4 of the jury a nightmare in deliberation! So if you get stuck with jurors like mine - remember the anonymous paper vote!

IrenetheQuaint Judge allowed us a half day off when one of the jurors had a funeral to attend.

I’ve never done it and am a bit jealous.

My best friend is a doctor and when she did it she recognised the defendant as a patient and had treated him in such a way that she could not possibly be impartial. (The example she gave was someone who was accused of breaking into houses and she had taken a big shard of glass out of his hand.)

She then (quite rightly) couldn’t explain to all her fellow jurors why she had been taken off the trial and so they all looked at her suspiciously for the rest of the two weeks.

Good advice from bonquiqui. Lots of people in shorts etc during my jury service, no need to dress up. We got a subsistence allowance of 5.71 per day plus travel expenses (would not pay for parking though). Only need to provide one travel ticket at the start of your service. Any extra childcare costs above what you would usually pay are also covered.

You can claim for loss of earnings if your employer will not pay you during your service. Max is 63 GBP per day for first two weeks, this then goes up to 129 GBP per day for any subsequent weeks (this is outside London). There is a form your employer has to fill in.

You'll get a few forms to complete on the first day, watch a video and then there will likely be lots of sitting around as everyone has said. After being selected for a jury, I arrived one day at 10am only to be told court could not proceed and I could go home!