Been selected for jury service, (!!!!!!!!)

dekaspace

The other reason I would be bad on a jury myself is lack of faith in the system, had a relative go to court for something quite big, the lies and twisted truths they put to him to "prove" he was guilty then to top it off it was meant to run a few more days but the judge moaned and said he wanted it done that day (so that was a cruel and nasty thing to do)

Relative was made a example of because the local police force was slammed in local press for letting very high profile cases get found not guilty (this wasn't high profile as much as just a easy target) the police representative afterwards gloating how he had put a criminal away on local news (even though corruption was known on local force) even before the case went to court local off duty policemen threatened me and my family (when drunk) admitting they would stich relative up if they couldn't find actual evidence and the stuff they did use was stupid like "oh you left town with no notice the day of the crime, that shows you are guilty" "when you were arrested you showed no emotion" which then became "when you were in court you cried therefore its a admission of guilt" so either way he couldn't win, show no emotion and be seen as admission of guilt (as not "surpised") be emotional and be seen as admission of guilt.

That made me lose faith in the system, the biggest laugh though was the relative shortly before that had applied to join the force

System

My mum was doing jury service in the mid 70s at the Old Bailey.

Lunch breaks were 1.5 hours. One of the fellow jury members decided to buy something in Oxford Street, which I googled and is 4 mikes away. Mum and other jury members advised her not to do it. She was ten minutes late. I know they had to wait until she returned. Mum knows she was fined about £60, which was a lot of money then

Mrs_Ryan

I would love to do it but as I have an unstable mental health condition and I can have very extreme reactions unexpectedly I don't think I would be able. Also I'm Mobility and hearing impaired so it would be nigh on impossible. I've sat in on a court case though, I did work experience at a solicitor's when I studied Law at college and I was allowed to attend court and sit in the public gallery which was really interesting.
My sisters best friend got called for two days before her wedding! They let her postpone though.

forgotmyname

Missus was really really nervous when whe got called up. Wanted to get out of it but i said being slightly dyslexic wont make any difference. You dont need to wrote an essay on it.

To alleviate her nerves i just reeled off the list of people that may appear, and said they are guilty. Having a giggle and saying she cannot do it like that. It worked she went and REALLY enjoyed it.

Short hair = guilty, long hair = guilty, tattoo = guilty, no tattoo = guilty.....

I do wonder if she thought of that as she went in and giggled??

Certainly an eye opener she said, after a split decision on guilty or not they went for guilty then after they found out he had several other offences for the same thing, but couldnt mention that during the case.

Thats all she divulged though. No actual details. She thinks they will find out and lock her up.

I wanted all the juicy gossip, wheres my turn?

usefulmale

Dird wrote: »

I've never done it but I'd love the chance to get a chav locked up and confirm the rest of his life being ruined. My employer even pays as normal during jury service :beer:

And so continue the cycle for the next few decades. Often, the victims life is ruined too. Good thinking there, champ.

xapprenticex

usefulmale wrote: »

And so continue the cycle for the next few decades. Often, the victims life is ruined too. Good thinking there, champ.

An example of why the legal system can be so scary, a jury full of people with prejudice, common American theme anyway.

cazs

I think it's very unfair that you lose out financially by doing jury duty. It doesn't seem right that because X stole some CDs or what have you, that a person called for jury duty is penalized financially.

I've been called twice, once just after turning 18, but never had to go as they settled out of court the day before the start date and once some years later for two weeks on a kidnap/blackmail case. I was fortunate in that my boss didn't have any issue about paying me as per usual but there is no obligation for them to do so and therefore, some people obliged to go for jury duty will suffer.

I found it really interesting and wouldn't mind doing it again (if my boss were happy again to pay normal salary) but if the situation changed and boss said they'd not pay me and I knew I'd be losing out financially what with only getting paid £64 by the courts, I'd be really annoyed.

The courts should pay you whatever you usually earn or as with other parts of the legal system, the decisions should be left with a judge, who I think would probably come to a better decision than random people off the street, who, in most cases, are not familiar with the ins and outs of court cases.

cazs

forgotmyname wrote: »

Missus was really really nervous when whe got called up. Wanted to get out of it but i said being slightly dyslexic wont make any difference. You dont need to wrote an essay on it.

To alleviate her nerves i just reeled off the list of people that may appear, and said they are guilty. Having a giggle and saying she cannot do it like that. It worked she went and REALLY enjoyed it.

Short hair = guilty, long hair = guilty, tattoo = guilty, no tattoo = guilty.....

I do wonder if she thought of that as she went in and giggled??

Certainly an eye opener she said, after a split decision on guilty or not they went for guilty then after they found out he had several other offences for the same thing, but couldnt mention that during the case.

Thats all she divulged though. No actual details. She thinks they will find out and lock her up.

I wanted all the juicy gossip, wheres my turn?

Once it's over, you are allowed to discuss what happened in the court room itself (presumably because people could know from sitting in the gallery) but not what was discussed in the deliberation room.

patman99

My friend did jury service a few years back. He told me that one dinner time, he went shopping and as he wondered from shop to shop, he noticed he was being followed.

When he returned to Court, he reported this and was told that the person following him was a plain clothes Police Officer.
Apparrently, they had info that the defendent's family were trying to 'get at' the jurors to persuade them to find the defendent not guilty.

Personnally, I have never served, but as I am an agency workr on not such good pay, the £64 daily allowance would match my earnings, so I would not be financially worse-off, but I might find my role no longer available if I did do jury duty.

garth549

I highly recommend doing jury service! I did 2 weeks at Preston CC a few years ago and found it fascinating. Unfortunately both cases I heard were child-sex related though which was upsetting.

I don't know how common this is but some home insurance policies will pay out-of-pocket expenses when you do jury service. This includes topping up the difference between what you'd normally earn vs the maximum daily rate as a juror.

It's worth checking anyway! Think the policy I claimed on was a Direct Line Home Plus but it may apply to their standard cover as well.