Trial by jury

[Rusty Nails]

I was called once, thirty odd years ago. I'd just started a new business and was on my own. They accepted that as an excuse. A couple of years later it would have been fine - I had minions.

You can get rid of those now with ointment.

 

[Ian H]

You can get rid of those now with ointment.

I sold them on.

 

[craigwend]

I've done jury service, twice.

The first time we sat and waited, and waited, and waited before having one hour in court

The second time was marginally more productive, but only marginally.

Another twice, first time sat waiting... At the last day of the ten send home at lunch time as not going to get a case on the last 1/2 day. The ushers told us that at one point they had not got a case to trial as they all plea bargain on the day, get a reduced sentence and having spent months on remand with better conditions.

Second time (10 years later?) Day 3 got a case done by the Friday - 'guilty' (all could have been done in one focused day). We were excused the second week as there were that many jurors spare sitting about...

Needs a shake up as seems a big scam from both sides, though personally feel it needs to exist, but with less wiggle room on the last day to 'play the system'

 

[icowden]

Jury selection is a huge problem. You have to be in the selection for 2 weeks. Your employer doesn't have to pay you, and you get paid up to £64 a day. That means the equivalent of someone earning about £16k.

This means that the first thing that anyone earning a decent wage is going to do, is try to get out of it. This is *especially* true of criminal crown courts where, if you are selected, you could be off work for a significant portion of time. The reasons that you can be excused or deferred are:

• Health conditions or upcoming operation
• Caregiving - e.g. new parent or have ill or disabled relative
• pre-booked holidays or exam
• Students who depend on employment during a vacation may get sympathy
• If you work for a small business that it would cause unusual hardship
• If you don't understand English
• If you are in the armed forces and it would create an operational issue.

The easiest "out" is the pre-booked holiday. All you need is a cheap ticket to a different country on RyanAir. So for say £30 you magically have a pre-booked holiday. Huge cost saving compared to losing your wages.

The end result is that Juries tend to be people who have low paid jobs, or don't need to earn money instead of being a random sample of citizens.

 

[Ianonabike]

The reasons that you can be excused or deferred are:

• Health conditions or upcoming operation
• Caregiving - e.g. new parent or have ill or disabled relative
• pre-booked holidays or exam
• Students who depend on employment during a vacation may get sympathy
• If you work for a small business that it would cause unusual hardship
• If you don't understand English
• If you are in the armed forces and it would create an operational issue.

I've got multiple outs, on top of which being stuck in a room with a small group of people day after day is something I'd find very claustrophobic.

My idea of a horror story:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40946653
'We spent almost two years sitting on a jury'

"Sometimes you are in that room together for hours on end. The jury are never told what is happening.

"Even when we were sat on the jury if someone needed the toilet we all went. We did everything together."

"The routine of going in every morning, and it's the same people in the same room, and you leave at night and you know it will be the same tomorrow.

 

[Beebo]

My idea of a horror story:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40946653
'We spent almost two years sitting on a jury'

That is madness.
The Lucy Letby trial was 10 months. But 2 years is crazy.
How can anyone be expected to deal with that.

 

[icowden]

That is madness.
The Lucy Letby trial was 10 months. But 2 years is crazy.
How can anyone be expected to deal with that.

The Eye has been arguing for some time that complex fraud cases shouldn't be tried by jury as the issues are many and complex, and the trials can run for a very long time - thus you don't get accountants and finance directors in the Jury. You get low paid civil servants, waitresses, etc who may not be the best people to decide on someone's guilt in a very complex finance trial.