Jury Service

[Sparkles]

I have been summoned for jury service .

Never done it before and don't know what to expect... Has anyone else been on a jury? Can you give me any useful tips or advice? What were your experiences like? Do I need to be worried...?

[Caro]

can't help as I've never been but I would really like to.

It must be a pretty interesting experience...

Can we swap if you're too worried ?

Although I'd be worried sick to make the wrong decision though (declare guilty someone who's innocent or vice-versa). That's not helping, is it

[Chicklet]

A few years ago now but I had a marvelous time.
The Case was Under-Age Sex with statutory defense that he (an 18year old)did not know / could not have been expected to know that she was under 16.
There was no arguement that The Act did not take place but this did not prevent the old buffer with the Cream of the Barley and the Wig from reading a number of definitions of "Sexual Intercourse" from his legal tomes to ensure everyone knew what we were talking about.
The girl appeared the first day looking ~21 in full make up, FM heels and a slinky black work suit. I guess someone *had a word" and next day we had school uniform, flat shoes, no make up and - wait for it - bunches .
All was proceeding "normally" until the girl's mother was called and (can't remember exactly) made it known, among other things that the girl was the love child of one Simple Minds and that there was a phantom clothes washer in Kilmarnock polis hut. The next day the mother was outside the court with a banner of some kind, can't remember what it was. The girl admitted that it had not been her first time, and that the case was all her mother's idea and managed to look a big sheepish, I think she and the boy had really quite liked each other, so it was all a bit sad for the pair of them.

All in all a grand week off work at the time and thoroughly entertaining both in content and form, but I think I probably got very lucky.

Verdict - well what else could it be but not proven?
How could we possibly get inside the boy's head and decide if he knew or not???

disclaimer to the PC serious brigade, none of the above precluded serious attention being paid to the matter in hand at the time.

Sparkles, take a book and a tube of softmints. and if you suffer sitting for long time, take a blow up pillow or some such.

[Sparkles]

Sparkles, take a book and a tube of softmints. and if you suffer sitting for long time, take a blow up pillow or some such.

Excellent advice! thanks

Did you have to 'swear in' - or whatever it's called?
How did you come to a verdict?
Were there people you could ask about the legal side of things, or were you left to your own devices?

Sorry to ask so many questions!

[Astro]

Excellent advice! thanks

Did you have to 'swear in' - or whatever it's called?
How did you come to a verdict?
Were there people you could ask about the legal side of things, or were you left to your own devices?

Sorry to ask so many questions!

I did it in the 1980's.

Can't remember being sworn in.

There were 2 simple cases we had. One theft an one fraud.

Yes, you go to another room and talk about which verdict you want. You all have to agree initially on the same verdict.

There were no people we could ask there, but the officials said we could ask them if there were any problems, but not sure what problems they meant.


What i do remember is -

1. The judge was an old duffer like Chicklets and even I knew his summing up was wrong. In fact we were brought back in so he could tell us he'd got it wrong.

2. There was only me and another guy with a brain. The other 10 jury members were idiots.

3. At lunch they were all discussing the case in the canteen. This is not supposed to happen, as we were told not to.

You can get your wages re imbursted. Think you get double wages?

[Chicklet]

Excellent advice! thanks

Did you have to 'swear in' - or whatever it's called?
How did you come to a verdict?
Were there people you could ask about the legal side of things, or were you left to your own devices?

Sorry to ask so many questions!

I think you're VERY sensible to ask questions, I was very shaky going in and just got very lucky with the "topic" lol.
I honestly don't remember one way or the other swearing in, my gut feel is that there wasn't anything of that kind, because if anyone had produced a bible on me I would have made a fuss for a non religious version and I have no memory of doing that.
We were 15 people and had a comfortable room in which to discuss around a table and then vote, we could discuss as long as we wanted to. We took about an hour and a half to go over it all in detail. I think it was something like 10 not proven, 4 not guilty and 1 guilty. = not proven by solid majority. I was neither the youngest nor the oldest there. We could have asked questions if we had wanted to but as it wasn't really a complicated case, there wasn't any need. My gut feel on what we were given in court was that he probably didn't think she was under 16. Rightly or wrongly, it did make it much easier morally (for me anyway) to know that there was no queston in the case of it being non-consensual. There was no way that I would morally have wanted this to be on the boy's record. He wasn't a bad boy and, again rightly or wrongly, this mattered to me.

This might help too....I know someone who has been called up a number of times and then not been picked ever, so just because you're in the pool, doesn't necessarily mean you're in the court proper.

Easy to write, harded to do, but if you can take deep breaths and look on it as one of life's experiences, you should be fine. Remember you're not the first to be nervous and you won't be the last. And if you can squeeze it out of your head...maybe try and think of it as a privilige? Many parts of the world don't have the luxury of the fairness of trial by jury so you'll be part of the system that IMHO makes us lucky in the UK.

yes I know there are plenty of counter arguements to that statement but this isn't the place for them.

[tsh]

You can get your wages re imbursted. Think you get double wages?

It looks more like you can claim for actual loss of earnings, up to a fairly low limit. If you're likely to loose out as a result, your employer is likely to compensate you - but that's their choice.

Sean

[Dreadful Scathe]

You can get your wages re imbursted. Think you get double wages?

There is a very low cap on how much you an claim, but I'm sure it would be worth it for the experience. I almost did Jury service this year, I was working in London for a week on the week they asked so I requested a postponement, which i got. I moved house soon after. They then sent me another letter, which was sent to my old address, so by the time i got it, it was too late. I should maybe tell them I'm available again as I wouldn't mind doing it

[jiveclone]

I honestly don't remember one way or the other swearing in, my gut feel is that there wasn't anything of that kind, because if anyone had produced a bible on me I would have made a fuss for a non religious version and I have no memory of doing that.

Jurors are sworn in in English courts.
There should be a selection of different books (Bible, Quran, Talmud, etc.), and also a non-religious alternative offered.

[jivecat]

I did mine about 10 years ago and was looking forward to seeing how a court worked and to taking part in a jury. I was concerned that the case might be difficult, unpleasant or traumatic, however, although I guess most are fairly routine. I was also concerned that that I might get a case where I would find the details hard to grasp - a very technical fraud case, for example. Decision-making is never my strong point and I could foresee that in some cases I would not be able come down with certainty on one side or the other, and I don't think fence-sitting is allowed.

In the event, I was called into the waiting room on two or three mornings to be sent back to work after an hour, and finally to be told that their jury requirements for the week were now fulfilled and I would not be needed at all. So my main problem was dealing with the anti-climax. And not getting my full week's skive off work!

[Martin]

A few years ago my flatmate did Jury service, and was offered $25 a day in compensation. Fortunately her employer paid her full wages, so it was not an issue.

I would be interested to do Jury service (should I be asked).
I would make sure I had a big bottle of water.

[~*~Saligal~*~]

It was quite a few years ago now that I did jury duty (in Oz).
The case was only meant to go for 3 weeks but ended up going for 6 weeks - which was a pain in because I was studying and working at the same time. Ordinarily around that time of year I would take time off for assignments and studying, but couldn't do this cos of the jury duty. The University that I went to was quite good and allowed extentions on my assignments.
I got a small amount of money to cover travel expenses - the longer the case went for, the better the meals were and the better the pay. My work paid me as per normal anyway.

I'm not sure how it works where you are - but in Australia you can be summoned for jury duty, yet not get to be part of the jury. You just end up sitting around all day until they call your name. Even then the lawyers get an opportunity to vote you off the jury if they have some "issue". I was summoned four times before I got to be on a jury.

When we were called in we were given the run-down on what was expected. Essentially in Oz it was a matter of "reasonable doubt" - ie, if you had a reasonable doubt that the person didn't do it, then they weren't to be convicted.

We made sure we took plenty of notes - some people used their notepads to draw and doodle just to keep sane. Some of the legal stuff can be quite tedious. I remember that we spent an entire day locked away while the lawyers fought stuff out with the judge. Our meals were brought to us so that we didn't discuss the case with anyone so it wasn't terribly pleasant - cept that I got the chance to catch-up on some studying!

I enjoyed the case to start with as I had just finished studying a semester of law as part of my degree. After a few weeks it got rather tedious and the arguments got really petty - and it's hard to sit through it when it's like that as you can't just get up and leave. I also made some good friends out of it too

Good luck if you do get onto a jury. Make sure that if you get any summons in the future that you mention you've already served and they usually let you off - at least they do here. It felt good to be a part of the democratic/civic service.

[Caro]

I should maybe tell them I'm available again as I wouldn't mind doing it

How do you get picked ? Do you need to be a British citizen ?
In France I think they draw at random from the voters register. If it's the same, may be it's time I sign up in this country then...

[Martin]

How do you get picked ? Do you need to be a British citizen ?
In France I think they draw at random from the voters register. If it's the same, may be it's time I sign up in this country then...

I do know in Aus, you have to become a Citizen first, then you are fair game to be picked.

There were a few main things of benifit or otherwise to become a Citizen:

1/ Jury Service
2/ Voting in elections
3/ Aussie passport
4/ Can still retain Citizenship/passport of original country of birth
5/ Even if leaving the country for 20 years, have the right to return
6/ If caught being naughty, will not be deported.

[Dreadful Scathe]

How do you get picked ? Do you need to be a British citizen ?
In France I think they draw at random from the voters register. If it's the same, may be it's time I sign up in this country then...

Same as France then, its entirely based on the electoral roll - see here

[Astro]

Same as France then, its entirely based on the electoral roll - see here

It's a bit like Earnie.

[Lou]

I have been summoned for jury service .

Never done it before and don't know what to expect... Has anyone else been on a jury? Can you give me any useful tips or advice? What were your experiences like? Do I need to be worried...?

I did it about 15 years ago. I had 2 cases, one of which was a mugging. The other one was stopped very early on for some legal reasons that I don't remember. I just recall that there was a fair bit of sitting around waiting to be told where to go.

We were sworn in. It's really straightforward.

And there's a website with advice for jurors here:

Welcome to the juror section of CJS Online

[Sparkles]

Thank you all for the useful tips and information i really appreciate them!

I'm a bit worried about if I don't get picked - just 'going back to work' is not such an easy thing for me considering my jury service is to be in the centre of London and I work in Cambridge. Hmm think I need to get on to the people in HR and find out what I need to do about that!

[Sheepman]

my jury service is to be in the centre of London and I work in Cambridge.

If you have been selected on the basis of an out of date electoral role, then I would imagine it is fairly straight forward to get out of it by telling them you've moved. When I did it about 20 years ago, I seem to remember the limits on travel expenses were pretty low, but presumably they've given you all the details on what you can claim.

It can be a pain if you do end up with the rare big case, which could go on for a long time, but a number of short cases is far more likely.
Apart from the possible loss of income, if your employer doesn't make up the shortage, then it really is nothing to worry about, and should be an interesting experience.

Greg

[~*~Saligal~*~]

I do know in Aus, you have to become a Citizen first, then you are fair game to be picked.

There were a few main things of benifit or otherwise to become a Citizen:

1/ Jury Service
2/ Voting in elections
3/ Aussie passport
4/ Can still retain Citizenship/passport of original country of birth
5/ Even if leaving the country for 20 years, have the right to return
6/ If caught being naughty, will not be deported.

In Aus you have to be on the voting roll to be called up for jury service.