Jury service - what do I need to know?

[C1239]

I’ve been called for jury service in a couple of months time, just wondering for those of you who have done it before what would your top advice be? I’ve heard there can be some waiting around so take a book. During the two weeks if you aren’t required one day do you go to work as normal? What if you are only in court for half a day do you then go to work, do they tell you work when you are and aren’t in?!

Some of you are getting dangerously close to disclosing your deliberations. Please do not. It is a contempt of court.

And a criminal offence under the Juries Act.

It is correct. It's a turn of phrase to say 100% sure. I wasn't implying they give percentages on a piece of paper.

But you must be certain they are guilty and cannot vote guilty if there is even a slight belief that they may not be. The judge should inform the jury of this.

But at least you got a reason, @Barelyable, even if it wasn't a very good one

With mine, we did a guilty/not guilty vote at the start - not much to discuss if everyone agreed - then all spoke briefly about why we'd decided that way as a spur to further discussion
All except this lady that is, who kept on and on repeating "I've just got this feeling ..." as her sole contribution, even after she kept changing her vote

My big tip is to take notes. There will be lots of witnesses and evidence and you need to have a record of who said what because it's so easy to get it muddled in your head.

I was pretty much the only person who took notes in my jury and I was pleased that I had.

I took the train to the court and inadvertently found myself sitting by one of the barristers. Awkward. But he either didn't recognise me as a jury member or pretended he didn't.

@Soapyspuds we had to be escorted out at the end as the friends were waiting at the station...they'd already barged into us the night before so we weren't taking any chances.
I agree with PP that said that aftercare is none existent.

Hey, I was dreading it but it was fine. Talk to your fellow jurors as the 2 week ones were doing the jigsaw lol 😂 but then we were the 2 weekers and moved to the jigsaw then got a nasty case and were escorted out the back door. Cannot wait to be picked again. Sorry rambling but I enjoyed every minute.

I had a slightly different experience in that I was on an 8 week high profile/ a lot of news interest trial and we had several days “off”
so to speak but the judge told us we were not to go back to work during those breaks due to the high profile nature of the case, so OP it can just depend what you end up on.

It’s one of the most important things I’ve done. I don’t regret doing it, but I am appalled at the poor care.

The system makes it impossible for some people. I know that I likely broke rules when speaking to my therapist, but I couldn’t sleep, could barely eat and didn’t (partly because of age, but mostly the nature of it) have the ability to process what I’d seen and some of the things other jurors had said in silence.

From a couple of people I know doing it more recently things are better, but nowhere near as they should be.

DH did jury service at the Old Bailey about 12 years ago, and then at a local crown court running up to Christmas. In the intervening time, they were allowed mobile phones and tablets for the downtime.

Lunch breaks were at least 1.5 hours, so it was feasible to leave the court and go somewhere in the community.

DH had an 8 week case, and there were a few days where they called him in the morning to say he was not needed. He doesn't work, so there was no issue there. I think if you were in an intense case, you are not going to be fit to go into work in the afternoon.

Watch Jury Duty on Prime, it's ace!

DH's trial, just before Christmas last year, involved the technicalities of mobile phone triangulation and ANPR cameras.

I feel for the jury on the Lucy Letby trial. Nearly 9 months!

Take a book, there is potentially a lot of waiting around and you may not be chosen at all.

Take notes. Like a PP I was the only one on the jury to take notes. I wasn't allowed to take them home at any time and had to leave them either in the court or the jury room. But they were very helpful to refer to. There was a lot of evidence and it was very useful to compare and contrast witness accounts of what happened.

Juries sit on serious cases. I didn't have to hear any very disturbing evidence but I still saw witnesses who were seriously affected by what had happened to them and that was upsetting.

Jury service was one of the most interesting things I have ever done. I sat on two different cases in the two weeks, both of which ended prematurely for different reasons so we didn't get to the point of deliberating on a verdict but it was still fascinating. The members of the jury were from all backgrounds, all ages, all levels of education. Contrary to some PPs experiences, it confirmed my belief that people generally have common sense and are reasonable judges of character. Some people liked to moan about all the waiting around, (there was a lot even when the cases were underway), but essentially everyone took it seriously.

It is wrong to say 100%. The only test is whether the prosecution have satisfied you so that you are sure. If you are not sure - not guilty. Sure is an ordinary English word - it is wrong to try and quantify it in terms of percentages.

As someone who works in the legal field this is how it goes in our system:

Everyone called for jury service will be told to come to a meeting place (there's usually a jury service room in the court or in our case they are currently using a local hotel) Names are selected at random and you will be called into the courtroom. However, solicitors are allowed to challenge people, if you are challenged you won't be part of the jury. But that doesn't mean your name won't get called for another case!

I'm sure you already know these rules but:

You cannot be part of the jury if you know anyone involved in the case or if you have heard about it/know what's going on

You can't discuss the case with friends/family

You aren't supposed to research the case online or on social media for information relating to it

In terms of breaks in our system you are allowed to leave the court and will be told when to come back. Food was also provided in the local hotel for jury members.

There is no set time for the duration of your service as it depends on the case. It could be 2 days or 2 weeks, it's never set in stone and it doesn't always follow a 9-5 schedule. Some days you could be finished at 2pm and others late at night but if you have an early finish on certain days you won't go back to work that day. Your employer must allow for however long it takes. I have seen cases where the jury was empanelled in the morning and the accused pleaded guilty in the afternoon - so the jury was excused without having to do anything and their service was complete.

Finally it's nothing to be anxious about so don't be worrying yourself. You may not even be selected but if you are a lot of people actually find it fairly interesting. Make sure to have something to keep you occupied like a book as the others have said and pay attention to what is going on as coming to a verdict is very important.

Good luck!

I served on a trial which took three weeks. For the last week we were put into juror protection after a credible threat was made in court by someone with an interest in the defendant. I and the rest of the jury were accommodated in a hotel and transported to court by minibus.

To be clear, lawyers are not allowed to challenge prospective jury members because they don't like the look of them or they think there are too many or too few women/men, black/white/old /young people etc and hope to get a more 'favourable' selection. In this country, as far as I know, the only grounds for challenge/withdrawal are if a member of the jury knows any of the defendants, witnesses or lawyers.

You will never, ever, be kept late at night.this is simply not true. Most court buildings are locked up and security goes home at 6.

Bias or unsuitability (eg obviously illiterate in a document heavy case)

If you are using public transport be aware you may find yourself unavoidably on the platform or at the bus stop with witnesses, lawyers etc If that might bother you wear headphones or even sunglasses. I didn't want to stand out in any way and wore unremarkable clothes every day.

So most jury duty stretches are two weeks but depending on the trial it could be longer I understand from the thread ? What reasons would be a valid argument for you not being able to serve longer than two weeks ?

Agree.

In my case, there were 2 people who simply did not understand the task. One was able to listen to others' explanations and grasp it. Then proceeded fine. The other refused to listen to explanations offered. Astonishing - and dangerous for society.

Vetting juries is a very slippery and dangerous slope. It is an essential part of the rule of law that we are judged by a random selection of our peers, and that may include unreasonable and stupid people.