Jury Duty

Pennywise2012

jtr2803 wrote: »

I don't buy the whole 'we all have to do our bit'.....sorry, I can tell some people do but this thread proves there are a lot of people who would love to partake, why can't they do it or why could it not be on a volunteer basis?

Because it's supposed to be a random cross-section of society, rather than just the people that want to do it. Obviously in real life it's not - there's the old joke about juries being made up of people who are too stupid to get out of jury duty etc etc. But it's an attempt to make it so.

Even if jury duty makes everybody loses two weeks wages over a 40 year period of working, it's less than a tenth of a percent of overall income.

Incidentally, I think it would make an interesting experiment to compare verdicts delivered by a jury of volunteers and a jury of conscripts. My money is on the volunteers delivering more guilty verdicts!

Janepig

Pennywise2012 wrote: »

Incidentally, I think it would make an interesting experiment to compare verdicts delivered by a jury of volunteers and a jury of conscripts. My money is on the volunteers delivering more guilty verdicts!

If you consider Magistrates to be volunteers, which to all intents and purposes they are, then the comparison has been done for you because (without having a link to the actual figures) you are statistically more likely to be found guilty by Magistrates than you are a jury (one of the possible reasons is that it's felt that Magistrates are more "case hardened").

For offences that are "either way", where the defendant can chose to be tried in the Magistrates or Crown Court, it's a fair indication of the strength of the defence case if they decide to choose Crown Court trial because they're more likely to get off, weighed up against the risk of a harsher sentence if they're found guilty.

Jx

Peanuckle

sammyjammy wrote: »

At my court they had a canteen specifically for Jurors and you got a plastic card already loaded with the money on it. It sounds like quite alot but given its £2 for a cup of coffee, £4 for a sandwich and 75p for a packet of crisps it doesn't go far.

Be careful what you wish for, I always wanted to do Jury service and got my wish six months ago, case lasted 8 weeks and it was boring, traumatic and tiresome. I think everyone thats done it says never again and those who haven't really want to.

Sounds like I landed lucky then, when I did jury service we were taken over the road to an Italian restaurant for a 2 course meal (we had to select from a set menu before court started each morning). :T

Hubby got called up earlier this year but he was really stressed about it and had a panic attack any time it was mentioned (a throw back to his mother telling his dad all about a murder case she attended the trial for as they had a family interest. I don't think it even clicked her 5 year old son was listening )
I emailed the clerk in charge of the jurys and, after the exchange of a few emails explaining, he arranged for a letter to be sent to hubby stating he's been permanently excluded from jury service.

Mrs_Imp

missprice wrote: »

on the other hand a nice long 10 week fraud case about now would give me time to jobseek and I could go to a new prospective employer and tell them no chance of me being called for service as I had just done it.
see win win:T

Don't be so sure. A friend of mine got called up twice for jury duty. The second time he phoned and said 'I've not long done a case that lasted 8 weeks' and they told him that the time limit between jury duties was x number of months, and this was x+1 number of months (I can't remember the figures they gave) so they still had to do it.

MissGolightly

I shall forever be exempt, or for as long as I have this job (which is hopefully until I retire, in 42 years!)

Janepig

MissGolightly wrote: »

I shall forever be exempt, or for as long as I have this job (which is hopefully until I retire, in 42 years!)

I can't imagine what that job could be as even Judges are eligible these days. As a Probation Officer I used to be exempt until the rules changed afew years ago and now there are very few exemptions. Wish we were still exempt .

Jx

Bluemeanie_2

pimento wrote: »

It seems that just about everyone who is called for jury service doesn't want to do it whereas I would love to do it and have never been called.

Same here! I'm breaking my neck to be called!

Air_Cooled_75

Mrs_Imp wrote: »

Don't be so sure. A friend of mine got called up twice for jury duty. The second time he phoned and said 'I've not long done a case that lasted 8 weeks' and they told him that the time limit between jury duties was x number of months, and this was x+1 number of months (I can't remember the figures they gave) so they still had to do it.

You can refuse (or defer) if you've done it and are called again within 2 years.

barbarawright

Janepig wrote: »

I can't imagine what that job could be as even Judges are eligible these days. As a Probation Officer I used to be exempt until the rules changed afew years ago and now there are very few exemptions. Wish we were still exempt .

Jx

I'd be interested too - I thought the only people exempt were those on active military service, people with a serious mental illness (basically you have to be sectioned) and criminals. As you say, judges can be called as can the police nowadays. I can't see how you can be exempt forever unless you're planning to commit a serious crime or not retire until you're 70. :eek: What sort of field do you work in, MIss G?

I remember a friend doing a serious financial case which lasted a couple of months. She said the jury all tried really hard to concentrate and follow the case prooperly but one by one they gave up and admitted they just hadn't a clue what was going on and just sat in a doze. Fortuntaley judges direct verdicts a lot more than you might think from watching telly. :rotfl:

Memoryfoam

I never expected to be called for jury service as I am european. I am self employed and will definitely loose money, I don't have an accountant so I will have to rely on some invoices as it is all I have to prove my loss of earnings. I don't mind doing it but I am terrified at the prospect of lasting more than two weeks, if it had to last 8 weeks or so, my business might no recover. Does anybody know if it is possible to speak with the jury people, explain my circumstances and beg them to be put on short cases? Someone suggested me to tell them my english is not good enough, but although I might miss few details, I am sure I can generally follow what is said.