Jury Service: Things I Wish I'd Known

[maicoman]

2 hours ago, Snafu said:

Did jury duty just a month or so after turning 18 and was selected despite my best efforts to look like a redneck. Fortunately the trial was nothing more than a drunken bar fight where one lad got glassed, it only lasted a few hours. The witnesses made it quite entertaining.

Never been called again since.

Found out a few years ago if you are over 70 you can ask to be excluded.

My old pal got the letter in to go for jury duty a couple of weeks a go She will be 90 in January!

[Adamski]

I've been on a jury once - a rape case at the high court. It took nearly three weeks, I found the process really interesting, the subject matter pretty depressing, and was particularly taken by the range of people on the jury and the opinions they held. There was lots of waiting around, as others have mentioned the food was dreadful, and deciding the future of the accused weighed pretty heavily. I spent much of my spare time during evenings thinking about it. I felt quite emotionally exhausted by the time it was over.

Don't want to post many details, but some of the tactics deployed by the defence lawyer (who was female) were utterly deplorable and left at least a couple of jury members pretty upset. Comments about the role of women in relationships that would be considered beyond the pale in any other situation and I'm amazed that it was considered fair game.

The timing worked out pretty sweetly though: directly after the Christmas holidays and directly before I'd booked three weeks holiday in Thailand. Two months during which I was in work (in a job I hated) for a grand total of two days.

[Busta Nut]

Can having shitey record for nothing serious affect your chances of getting summoned?
Asking for Bible John.

[tamthebam]

Jurors are picked from the electoral register which doesn't have ages on it hence 90 year olds getting picked.

Clerks of Court pick jurors on the principle of w**k, w**k, good guy, w**k

There's a big catch up programme after Covid so you'll get your turn if you live in Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, Glasgow, West Lothian, Aberdeen as these are the main catchment areas for the High Court as well as the local Sheriff Courts and they're burning through jurors. If you want to avoid jury service move to a place with a shitty wee court e.g. Campbeltown.

Just for @Shandon Par there is provision in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act for illness or death of a juror once picked..

Scottish Criminal juries have 15 jurors but 12 if it's a Civil Jury although these don't usually go ahead.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act applies @Busta Nut so it depends what you(r friend) did and how long ago it was 

A juror in the High Court did time for googling an accused a few years ago. You get warned by the Sheriff/Judge not to do such things.

Due to possessing background knowledge I'm permanently excused jury service. GIRFUY!

 

 

[GordonS]

6 hours ago, Michael W said:

 

The second case was a man accused of possession of a knife in public whilst he'd nicked six bottles of moisturiser from Bodyshop in Slough.

FWIW, a case like that would never come before a jury in Scotland.

I wonder how much more often people in England get called for jury service than in Scotland.

[GordonS]

The sister of a good friend of mine lost her faith in humanity as a result of being on a jury for a sexual offences case at the High Court in Edinburgh. That's not an exaggeration. She was as sickened by her fellow jurors as by the accused. She couldn't believe how many were nothing but lazy, ignorant, prejudiced arseholes. About half of them made up their mind on the first day and spent the rest of the trial bitching about how long it was taking.

Something to think about if you're not an arsehole and you get called up for the High Court - if you dodge it, what kind of person will get your place?

I've been called up once, 29 years ago, so I'm long overdue a summons.

[Left Back]

7 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Jurors are picked from the electoral register which doesn't have ages on it hence 90 year olds getting picked.

Clerks of Court pick jurors on the principle of w**k, w**k, good guy, w**k

There's a big catch up programme after Covid so you'll get your turn if you live in Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, Glasgow, West Lothian, Aberdeen as these are the main catchment areas for the High Court as well as the local Sheriff Courts and they're burning through jurors. If you want to avoid jury service move to a place with a shitty wee court e.g. Campbeltown.

Just for @Shandon Par there is provision in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act for illness or death of a juror once picked..

Scottish Criminal juries have 15 jurors but 12 if it's a Civil Jury although these don't usually go ahead.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act applies @Busta Nut so it depends what you(r friend) did and how long ago it was 

A juror in the High Court did time for googling an accused a few years ago. You get warned by the Sheriff/Judge not to do such things.

Due to possessing background knowledge I'm permanently excused jury service. GIRFUY!

 

 

You’re also not supposed to be summoned again within 5 years if you serve.  Sheriff said to us a few weeks ago it could be down to 3.  This was in the hick town that is Dundee.

I live in Perthshire, It was Dundee Sheriff Court and the alleged crime took place in Fife where the defendant was also from so the whole thing seemed a bit all over the place.

[Left Back]

9 minutes ago, GordonS said:

FWIW, a case like that would never come before a jury in Scotland.

I wonder how much more often people in England get called for jury service than in Scotland.

Why wouldn’t that come before a jury in Scotland?  I was on a jury a few weeks ago where the alleged crime was basically possession of a knife in a public place without proper reason.  I can’t remember the exact term that was used but that’s what the defendant was accused of.

[Michael W]

15 minutes ago, GordonS said:

FWIW, a case like that would never come before a jury in Scotland.

I wonder how much more often people in England get called for jury service than in Scotland.

I really thought that the CPS would have the witness statement alongside the CCTV evidence and could've made an informed decision as to the prospect of a conviction. I couldn't believe that case made it to court; a total waste of money and indeed everyone's time. 

Maybe the defendent was a known pest/serial offender and they thought they'd try and put him away. Still, got us discharged afterwards with some tactical timings. 

[GordonS]

4 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Why wouldn’t that come before a jury in Scotland?  I was on a jury a few weeks ago where the alleged crime was basically possession of a knife in a public place without proper reason.  I can’t remember the exact term that was used but that’s what the defendant was accused of.

Maybe the accused had previous or there were other factors not discussed at that stage. A Sheriff sitting alone can give a sentence of up to a year.

I had a check and the average sentence for carrying a knife in Scotland has increased a lot in recent years, so what I thought is probably well out of date now.

[GordonS]

2 minutes ago, Michael W said:

I really thought that the CPS would have the witness statement alongside the CCTV evidence and could've made an informed decision as to the prospect of a conviction. I couldn't believe that case made it to court; a total waste of money and indeed everyone's time. 

Maybe the defendent was a known pest/serial offender and they thought they'd try and put him away. Still, got us discharged afterwards with some tactical timings. 

Underfunding for the CPS (and defences too) is utterly desperate in England - it's possible nobody even reviewed the evidence before it reached trial.

[red23]

i don't enjoy work that much, sounds like a skive, is jury duty that bad?

[Aim Here]

59 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Jurors are picked from the electoral register which doesn't have ages on it hence 90 year olds getting picked.

Clerks of Court pick jurors on the principle of w**k, w**k, good guy, w**k

I did wonder about that. I got summoned once for jury duty, but lost the raffle so was sent home. But I did remember that the clerk of court did go through the bowl with everyone's names on bits of paper, until he found the one name he was looking for, pulled it out and put the rest back in. I was never sure whether he was surreptitiously keeping one of said wanks off the jury or did someone drop out really late in the proceedings and he needed to adjust the jury selection tombola accordingly.

[grumswall]

Enjoyed it the one and only time I did it. Was first out the bowl, which was daunting as a 21 year old. Simple case of he said, but he said about an assault and the case was dismissed in the afternoon. Got a free lunch at what was the parkway Hotel at the time, which I don't think is the done thing any more. Couple days off work aswell as the first day was written off as the judge ended up unavailable. Father in law got called up for it a couple of months ago for a case from falkirk, that was being held in dunfermline for some reason.

[welshbairn]

2 hours ago, maicoman said:

My old pal got the letter in to go for jury duty a couple of weeks a go She will be 90 in January!

My Mum got one at 93, I told her she'd go to jail if she didn't go. She was a bit disappointed I think when I got her off.

[grumswall]

My Mum got one at 93, I told her she'd go to jail if she didn't go.She was a bit disappointed I think when I got her off.

[Left Back]

14 minutes ago, grumswall said:

 Father in law got called up for it a couple of months ago for a case from falkirk, that was being held in dunfermline for some reason.

Guilty then I assume?

[grumswall]

Guilty then I assume?

Don't think he ended up even attending. No idea the reason he gave though.

[Fullerene]

I did Jury duty many years ago.  We all went together to the same place for lunch.

After one lunch, as we were all heading back, one juror turned round and asked someone "is this the right way back?"

The person she asked was the accused.

"Yes, I think so," he replied.

At this point, another juror quickly said "we will have to ask someone else.  I don't believe a word he says."

[Boghead ranter]

8 hours ago, tamthebam said:

If you want to avoid jury service move to a place with a shitty wee court e.g. Campbeltown.

You spelt Camelon wrong.