Should I do jury service?

[Juryorrun]

I’ve been summoned to do jury service. I have good reasons to be excused from it, and those same reasons would make it a right old ballache to do (caring responsibilities etc). And I would also have an almost 2 hour journey to get there, and the same back each day.

It says 10 days service on the letter, but also says it may go on longer. Is that a standard thing it always says, or is it really likely to be around the 10 day mark? If it’s going to be a lot longer than that it definitely wouldn’t be possible.

BUT…I’ve always wanted to do jury service and I’d actually like to do it. I know it probably won’t be as exciting as I’m expecting it to be, but I think it would be interesting.

So AIBU for not getting out of it when I easily could, and it will be a right PITA logistics wise?

I loved it but equally I worked for the civil service so received full pay for the 3.5 months the trial took.

I've done it twice.
Fascinating and would do it again.
You don't always go in every day.
Save all your travel receipts to claim back expenses
You get a small food allowance payment for days you are in.
I wore jeans and trainers
There will be a wide range of intellects on each jury. Say no more!
It was not difficult to decide guilty/innocent in the various cases I was on as there was often evidence plus the barristers and judge will guide you.
The amount of time spent sitting in court is very broken up - short spell before lunch, an hour out, short spell after lunch. Often finished at 4pm. Sometimes get sent out while judge and barristers debate a point of law.

I was very proud to be part of a jury that sent a 'we believe you' message to the young lady who said that her father had raped her. That message was our 'guilty' verdict.

I’ve been excused 5 times in the past 3 years as I don’t have childcare for my kids. I keep getting requests, it’s like once you get excused they hound you until you go 😂

id quite like to go as ive had requests for the high court 3 times but again, child care.

Jury service can go on longer than 10 days if you are on certain cases but if it's a very long case they may ask for volunteers - and you may be excused jury service thereafter. Happened when I did jury service but as I was on a different case I was not asked to volunteer and only found out from other people.

Cases and jurys vary quite a bit. Often it's just a couple of days per case.

Please dont go thinking you'd never convict anyone, that is grossly unfair on the victims of crime. We had a couple of "judge not lest be be judged" types and had to have a majority verdict on one case or it would have gone to retrial.

They've had majority verdicts in Australia even longer than we have had them in the UK.

I’ve done it twice. The first time I was called I had an ebf newborn. I wrote and explained and they deferred my jury service for exactly a year - just as I went back to work!

The second time clashed with school holidays and we were already down to minimum staffing at work so I asked to defer and had to provide 3 alternative start dates. They chose the first one.

The most recent time we had slips of paper on day 1 asking if we could serve for more than 10 days if needed, and if not why not. My case was predicted to last just over 2 weeks but didn’t in the end.

Once I was on a jury (I was selected on day 1 both times) I didn’t need to be at court until 10am each day as the judge was doing sentencing first thing each day. Do make sure you’re there in time though - if everyone gets there at once getting through the airport style security can take a bit of time and you’re in contempt of court if you’re late!

I just wore comfortable clothes - trousers and a jumper. Our courtroom was massive and not very warm!

Do make very good notes as you go, the little details are often what’s needed to come to a decision.

All of the judges have been absolutely lovely and very grateful to the jurors that served. They appreciate that there is a lot of hanging about and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. My most recent case was a historic child abuser case and for various reasons it wasn’t a typical case but I still feel proud of the outcome that we came to. It was the best that we could have done in the circumstances.

I've got a citation coming up (my 4th but yet to actually sit on a jury) and I wouldn't mind doing it so much if they could actually tell you that you'd get picked and how long it might last for. As it stands I've no idea if i could be there a couple of days, a couple of weeks or back at my desk by lunchtime on the first day! It's making work planning impossible and potentially going to impact on social plans too. The last time I went I spent a lot of time standing around in corridors, wandering around town because we got told they'd start another case after lunch, then went back after lunch, stood around in a corridor some more before finally being sent home because they didn't actually have a case to start! So I basically wasted a whole day doing nothing. If I was self employed I would have been raging. It feels like there must be a better way of organising it.

Don’t assume you have a valid reason for excusal. I was called to the Old Bailey. My school said teachers only ever get a short trial or get excused. The judge simply stated that the trial had started and the only excusal was if you had a holiday booked. I was there for three weeks. On the other hand, my daughter was sent home from Crown Court and didn’t do a day.

Often defendants change their plea on the first day of proceedings which is why so often you end up not being needed.

What if you are called and have a stammer. Do you have to state your name, address etc orally in front of a full courthouse.

My cousin has a stammer and would be worried about this. If you took ages to say the things.

They work in IT and they stammer a bit in groups, but would really struggle to announce anything. Interviews were hard. Stammering doesn't seem to be a disability. You just have to go off and get a job like everyone else.

So far they got a doctor letter saying they have anxiety but the doctor is slow to say this as everyone should do jury duty stammer or not.
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It is very reasonable to explain that the distance is an issue. They may offer something closer as a result

Often there isn't anywhere closer - many people live well over an hour from their nearest courtroom.

I would be asking for an excusal and citing 'communication difficulties' backed up by GP. This is individual not a if you have X condition you can't do it. Of someone wants to do it and try it have communication difficulties then reasonable adjustment should apply and be discussed with the court clerk

OP, you WANT to do it and without saying it, you give the impression that you find your life mundane, boring, all about everyone else and you want to do something interesting for YOU. Which is a great reason to do it.

It's a bit disheartening to see so many people disparage the jury system on here. I'm a lawyer and I've served on a jury. It is a privilege and an important historic right that we can be judged by a random selection of normal people when we are accused of a crime. Juries are able to bring life experience and practicalities to the decision and have an absolute right to acquit, for any reason whatsoever. Part of the judicial system is to make sure the public hold justice to account through public galleries and jury decisions. I honestly feel this is something we shouldn't underestimate.

The issue with it can be around money and I'd like to see proper remuneration for jury members and for employers to be legally required to pay salaries in full for the duration of a trial. I can't see why this doesn't happen already.

Judge only trials are being considered in Scotland for rape cases and barristers are working hard to resist this change.

I would really be curiously interested in being called up for jury servic3 especially if it was particularly interesting court case for example,

Known my kind of luck i would be called up for boringly pedestrian court case,

I would really be curiously interested in being called up for jury servic3 especially if it was particularly interesting court case for example,

Known my kind of luck i would be called up for boringly pedestrian court case,

No. With the exception of the foreperson, no members of the jury spoke in the courtroom that I can remember. Any questions we might have had about proceedings were written down and handed to the clerks. We were called in and given the names of the victim and defendant and the location where the crime took place and asked to tell the clerks if any of that meant we could not sit on the jury. Otherwise only talking was done in deliberations and some people said absolutely nothing the whole time.

Also it’s unlikely to be a “full courthouse” unless it’s a big headline trial. Mine had the judge, barristers x2 and each had someone sat with them. A police officer turned up in the gallery for part of it. The defendant and a member of court staff with them. Defendants family attended but were practically out of sight of the jury. So not very busy at all.

I'm in Ireland but the system is pretty similar I think. I served on a jury a couple of years ago for a assault trial- so nothing so distressing or complex as some mentioned here - and found it a fascinating and rewarding experience. I was actually hugely impressed with my fellow jurors, everyone took it very seriously and were thoughtful and if they had prejudices, didn't display them. I was much less impressed with the barristers for both the defence and prosecution who seemed a bit half assed and to my mind, missed loads of critical questions. I would happily do it again, it gives am insight into a whole other realm that it would be difficult to otherwise gain..

Juries are able to bring life experience and practicalities to the decision

They also bring all their biases - that’s the part I found hardest to deal with.

Hi OP

I recently did jury service. They say 10 days but I was there for 4 days and chosen for 1 case.

To me, participating in jury service is a really important part of our civic responsibility & I took it seriously. It was also very interesting, although I knew the workings having accompanied people to court in the past.

However, what I found absolutely soul destroying was people’s inability to follow the instructions from the judge combined with their desire to convict with absolutely no hard evidence.

I believe the case only went to court because the defendants had previous, which was revealed at the end of the trial. Not because of any hard evidence. It was all he said she said. In ordinary circumstances the CPS would’ve said there wasn’t enough evidence to take it to court. I was also disappointed at how easily people folded in the jury room. The pressure is quite high but still, this is people’s lives we’re talking about.

My faith in the justice system was already pretty low. Now, alI can say is I hope I’m never up in front of a jury of my peers because they can’t follow instructions & they seem predisposed to want to convict based on things like appearance, speech etc.

Have you thought about being a magistrate? It’s essentially like being on a mini jury and a lot of benches are crying out for volunteers.

The issue with it can be around money and I'd like to see proper remuneration for jury members and for employers to be legally required to pay salaries in full for the duration of a trial. I can't see why this doesn't happen already.

Not everyone is an employee though. Many people are self-employed or sole traders and can't afford to just close for an indeterminate amount of time.

I run a dog walking company and 95% of my business is people who need their dogs taking out while they go to work. If I knew well in advance that I was needed for jury duty and that it would be for ten days, I could plan for that.

I can't plan ahead when I don't know how long I'll be needed. I could close for ten days but only be needed for two - in the meantime my clients plan for a ten day closure and I lose 8 days of pay for nothing.

Or what happens if my trial lasts a month or more? My business would fold.

Exactly. For every sensible person that's selected, there's someone who's racist or sexist or who just doesn't give a fuck either way.

I've done it 3 times! First at 19. As someone fascinated by both human nature and the law, I loved it, though admit there are boring times waiting around to be selected for a jury. All the cases I was on were around 3 to 4 days. And usually they let you go before 10 days as they don't need you to start a new case when other potential jurors will be turning up soon. Also I believe they ask before putting people on long term cases.

A lot of people I have worked with have also done jury service and I can't recall anyone being stuck doing it for ages. Most returned to work within the two weeks.