Have you every been on jury service??

[Nikki037297]

I’m wondering if anyone on here has ever been on jury service and what was your experience like? How did you get to go on jury service? I’d love to try it and find it so interesting

Yes I have. It was really boring! A lot of waiting around. Was on a jury for 2 cases, both of which only lasted a day. What was horrible and a real shock was how racist some of the other jury members were - as well as not too smart.

You get chosen at random.

I've been called twice and served twice
I actually quite enjoyed it .
Got a summons through the post ...you can't ask / elect to do it.

I live near a High Court and a Sheriff's court and I've been called for jury duty twice in the last 5 years!

Luckily I didn't have to stay for the first trial as it involved sexual assault and I was able say that I wasn't comfortable being part of the trial due to my personal history so I allowed to leave before the trial started.

Second time I was a reserve juror for an drugs case. This was only recently in COVID times so we were in an old cinema, with the trial projected on the screen. We had comfy seats and all you could eat biscuits - I would have happily stayed. Not needed though as none of the main jurors dropped out so I only was there for two days.

I wonder if my 3rd time I'll actually get through the whole trial.

It's random selection, some people never get called & others seems to be called a few times.
I found it a mixture of fascinating (seeing how the process worked etc) and really boring (lots of waiting around).
Totally agree that I was worried by the prejudices and lack of critical thinking skills displayed by some of the other jurors

Hi, yes I've done it 3 times. You just get asked, and can usually only be dismissed on certain grounds.
There was quite a bit of hanging around, from memory for the first one I went on, I think a week or best part of. Then I got 3 cases in one week, because all short ones.

Second one was Old Bailey, so that was a bit more exciting.

It's random selection isn't it? I got called, sat around for 2 weeks and never got selected for a trial. Let down!

Yes I have been called twice . First time was a long case. Second time a lot of hanging about

You get selected at random. I was called for duty in Feb 2020 for my first time at the age of 56. I never actually attended court though. Got a text 2 days running saying I wasn't needed that day and on the third day the text said I had now been discharged from duty!
DH (age 60) has never been called. So even being selected doesn't mean you get to serve - although there's probably a higher chance that you will now due to the backlog of cases caused by covid.

I did two and a half weeks on a historic rape case with multiple survivors. It was fascinating but sad they’d had to wait years.

I do wish I would be chosen I live only two miles from the law courts which have various courts inside form family to magistrates to crown court. I’d love to give it a try if ever given the chance

I did an almost 3 month stint on a really tedious case involving files and files of paperwork.
Every day we had to turn to file 3, page 97, section 24a...
Also, although it was fraud based, it's a huge weight of responsibility.

I was selected and ended up being Forewoman, so had to read out to the court the verdict of the jury. I disagreed with the verdict but it was majority rule. I felt so awful reading it out and the poor victim sitting there, felt like we had failed her.

@Nikki037297

I do wish I would be chosen I live only two miles from the law courts which have various courts inside form family to magistrates to crown court. I’d love to give it a try if ever given the chance

Been called up twice - I’m a qualified solicitor but still found the process interesting.

Both times there was a lot of waiting around and then I sat on two cases each time - 1 quite harrowing.

You are randomly selected for jury service - then you wait around and are called up to potentially join a trial - then they select 12 out of those called up to actually join the trial.

It was an interesting and enlightening experience - but I was alarmed at some of the very differing points of view of the other jurors - but that’s the consequence and benefit of the jury system isn’t it

You may be able to watch public criminal trials - perhaps at the old bailey in London - you would need to check

I was selected about 25 years ago and sat on 2 cases and then again in April 2020 but because of Covid the courts were shut until they sorted something else out so I received a letter cancelling it.
Found the whole legal process fascinating but it's a huge responsibility.

I was selected about a year ago at the Old Bailey. I think we missed out on a lot of the hanging around as they really tried to keep the number of people required as low as possible due to Covid. It was so interesting to see how the process worked and our usher (can’t remember if that’s the right word but essentially the guy who chaperoned us around) was a great character. The highlight was that we used a court room as our jury room due to social distancing and I was elected as foreperson so got to sit in the judge’s chair while we deliberating.
I agree with it being slightly worrying some of the very, very basic questions some people wanted to send to the judge and the inability to understand some (fairly straightforward) points of law.

@Blueemeraldagain

I was selected about a year ago at the Old Bailey. I think we missed out on a lot of the hanging around as they really tried to keep the number of people required as low as possible due to Covid. It was so interesting to see how the process worked and our usher (can’t remember if that’s the right word but essentially the guy who chaperoned us around) was a great character. The highlight was that we used a court room as our jury room due to social distancing and I was elected as foreperson so got to sit in the judge’s chair while we deliberating. I agree with it being slightly worrying some of the very, very basic questions some people wanted to send to the judge and the inability to understand some (fairly straightforward) points of law.

What do you mean basic questions?

I was the victim in court few months ago and loads of questions from the jury were being send to the judge
It was very off putting and one question meant the case had to be adjourned for 13 fckinnnnng months aghhhhhh

I received a summons which frightened the life out of me. I hadn't realised you were "summoned". I was warned of the waiting around and was looking forward to having time to chill out and read. I got picked for a case within 10 mins and had a case about people trafficking and being made to be sex workers. The accused got 8 years. His wife was in court and she cried. It was horrible. He absolutely deserved his sentence but he was a small cog in a big wheel and in some ways I felt he was a victim too.

To be honest @Queenie6655 I can’t really remember and there was only one question that was sent while we were in court session. That sounds awful. Most of the silly questions were proposed during my jury service were during deliberation. Things like someone not agreeing/understanding with how the law had to be applied in a situation and wanting to ask the judge again even though he and the lawyers had made it very clear.
Our case was also sort of connected to much larger and more serious case (where a teenage boy was murdered) and the judge has made it very clear what we as the jury were allowed to know and not know and people kept wanting to send questions the judge had said couldn’t be discussed.

@Blueemeraldagain

To be honest *@Queenie6655* I can’t really remember and there was only one question that was sent while we were in court session. That sounds awful. Most of the silly questions were proposed during my jury service were during deliberation. Things like someone not agreeing/understanding with how the law had to be applied in a situation and wanting to ask the judge again even though he and the lawyers had made it very clear. Our case was also sort of connected to much larger and more serious case (where a teenage boy was murdered) and the judge has made it very clear what we as the jury were allowed to know and not know and people kept wanting to send questions the judge had said couldn’t be discussed.

Interesting I see

Gosh it must be nerve wracking

The concept of 'beyond reasonable doubt' was one that some of the jurors I served with simply couldn't understand. Or actually listening to the evidence and making a decision based on that, rather than 'I feel awful saying that he is guilty'

But the think I was especially shocked by in the first case I sat on, was that the witnesses for the prosecution gave very different accounts of what had happened, such that we couldn't find the defendant guilty, as they hadn't been able to prove her guilt 'beyond reasonable doubt'. Not that that bothered one of the jurors who was determined to find her guilty, because she was black