Jury service question.
Discussion
jith said:
ModernAndy said:
PF62 said:
When I served on a jury the trial lasted a week. Only one person took any notes at all, me. For the majority of the rest of the people on the jury, remembering the evidence didn't seem to appear to be a factor in their decision making process.
I had the exact same experience. Even got accused by one particularly stupid jury member of thinking myself above them because I was taking notes and looking back at them and asking people to consider things they clearly hadn't given a second thought to. It was an absolute furnace of rage in the jury room when I pointed out they hadn't taken any of the steps they were told to by the judge when deliberating. We ended up having to stay an extra morning as the arguing had taken up the afternoon. One of the best movies ever made addressing the problems of apathy and prejudice in the jury system.
Fonda is phenomenal in it.
J
Edited by jith on Tuesday 26th April 11:13
My experience of jury duty was that some people are just stupid. One lady seemed to decide the accused was innocent on the basis that his legal representative was good looking. A bloke was so bitter about his own divorce that he was never going to find a man accused of harrasing his ex wife guilty.
PF62 said:
When I served on a jury the trial lasted a week. Only one person took any notes at all, me. For the majority of the rest of the people on the jury, remembering the evidence didn't seem to appear to be a factor in their decision making process.
In one trial, when I was on jury duty, the judge wouldn't allow us to make notes as that could distract from the evidence being presented while you're noting the previous evidence. In the other, pen and paper were supplied. TBH things move so glacially slowly that it is reasonably easy to remember enough, and a general impression can be as valid as highly substantiated analysis.I found jury service thoroughly depressing and would dread the thought of being tried by a jury of my peers in the future. Some of the jurors couldn't even be bothered to turn up on time during my second trial.
One juror proclaimed that the defendant must be guilty. "Just because you don't see a child hopping doesn't mean they haven't been hopping". Absolutely bewildering. I also found the scant amount of evidence in one case frightening; a single sheet of A4 paper, one hurried victim interview on video, no CCTV and no proper witness statements. I don't know how it got to court but it was clear that we wouldn't agree a verdict so the Judge abandoned the trial.
One juror proclaimed that the defendant must be guilty. "Just because you don't see a child hopping doesn't mean they haven't been hopping". Absolutely bewildering. I also found the scant amount of evidence in one case frightening; a single sheet of A4 paper, one hurried victim interview on video, no CCTV and no proper witness statements. I don't know how it got to court but it was clear that we wouldn't agree a verdict so the Judge abandoned the trial.
jith said:
ModernAndy said:
PF62 said:
When I served on a jury the trial lasted a week. Only one person took any notes at all, me. For the majority of the rest of the people on the jury, remembering the evidence didn't seem to appear to be a factor in their decision making process.
I had the exact same experience. Even got accused by one particularly stupid jury member of thinking myself above them because I was taking notes and looking back at them and asking people to consider things they clearly hadn't given a second thought to. It was an absolute furnace of rage in the jury room when I pointed out they hadn't taken any of the steps they were told to by the judge when deliberating. We ended up having to stay an extra morning as the arguing had taken up the afternoon. One of the best movies ever made addressing the problems of apathy and prejudice in the jury system.
Fonda is phenomenal in it.
J
Edited by jith on Tuesday 26th April 11:13
The only thing i remember from my 2 weeks jury service was having to hang around with the defendants while having a fag and getting stared at. Lucky there were a few smokers on the jury so we went out together not sure i'd have felt safe on my own , some very rough/dodgy types on the cases i sat on and they had a lot of friends with them .
vanordinaire said:
Does anyone know what the odds of being called for jury service at some time are? I'm in my fifties and none of my immediate friends or family have ever been called so it can't be very common.
Same here.I hope i never get called as I'm self employed so would lose my income. A long case would destroy me financially.
jith said:
Watch this Andy:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfAbTyAcgpE
One of the best movies ever made addressing the problems of apathy and prejudice in the jury system.
Fonda is phenomenal in it.
One of the best movies ever made addressing the problems of apathy and prejudice in the jury system.
Fonda is phenomenal in it.
Don't even need to open the link. 
One of my all time favourite films.
Still gripping nearly 60 years after it was made.
With long trials there must be a significant risk that jurors will drop out:
Ill health
Stress caused by taking so much time off work losing money
Injury/accident
Death on the job
A previous association with someone involved turns up
family emergency
etc
How do they manage this sort of thing? There must be a pretty good risk of ending up a couple of jurors short.
Ill health
Stress caused by taking so much time off work losing money
Injury/accident
Death on the job
A previous association with someone involved turns up
family emergency
etc
How do they manage this sort of thing? There must be a pretty good risk of ending up a couple of jurors short.
cymtriks said:
With long trials there must be a significant risk that jurors will drop out:
Ill health
Stress caused by taking so much time off work losing money
Injury/accident
Death on the job
A previous association with someone involved turns up
family emergency
etc
How do they manage this sort of thing? There must be a pretty good risk of ending up a couple of jurors short.
I was thinking this after the Hillsborough enquiry, wasn't the majority verdict 7-2, so only 9 left on the jury? Ill health
Stress caused by taking so much time off work losing money
Injury/accident
Death on the job
A previous association with someone involved turns up
family emergency
etc
How do they manage this sort of thing? There must be a pretty good risk of ending up a couple of jurors short.
I`m 69 only been called once in my life and got out of it.At the time I had a car repair business,just me and one employee.If I had got stuck in court for weeks on end I would have been out of business.
Now that I`m retired I would love the opportunity as it would give me something interesting to do.Trouble is my hearing is wrecked,I wear two hearing aids and would find it impossible to follow the proceedings.No doubt that would mean I could be excused.
One in six of the adult population has some sort of hearing problem.Do court officials make sure that all jury members have good hearing? or are the places where the jury sit equipped with loop systems,head phones or whatever?
What with the surroundings,different people speaking different accents,lawyers barking into their paperwork,nervous witnesses mumbling quietly,how does everyone no matter how good their hearing,follow the proceedings word for word?
Now that I`m retired I would love the opportunity as it would give me something interesting to do.Trouble is my hearing is wrecked,I wear two hearing aids and would find it impossible to follow the proceedings.No doubt that would mean I could be excused.
One in six of the adult population has some sort of hearing problem.Do court officials make sure that all jury members have good hearing? or are the places where the jury sit equipped with loop systems,head phones or whatever?
What with the surroundings,different people speaking different accents,lawyers barking into their paperwork,nervous witnesses mumbling quietly,how does everyone no matter how good their hearing,follow the proceedings word for word?
nikaiyo2 said:
Thats so strange and completely the opposite to what I found!
There was a real cross section of society in the trials I was directly involved with. A couple of early retired public sector types, a really posh dude, a couple of younger people etc I think all those were quite engaged in the process. I did make notes, more in one trial than the other, the one I made few notes in was pretty cut and dried 11-1 guilty at the start!
It was quite strange I think in the 1st trial we wanted to find the guy guilty, but due to the terrible way the prosecution presented the evidence we could not be "sure of guilt."
In the second trial I think we all wanted to find the girl not guilty, however her story was completely unbelievable!
Same experience for me, cross section of society and ages. They all behaved very professionally, all took notes.There was a real cross section of society in the trials I was directly involved with. A couple of early retired public sector types, a really posh dude, a couple of younger people etc I think all those were quite engaged in the process. I did make notes, more in one trial than the other, the one I made few notes in was pretty cut and dried 11-1 guilty at the start!
It was quite strange I think in the 1st trial we wanted to find the guy guilty, but due to the terrible way the prosecution presented the evidence we could not be "sure of guilt."
In the second trial I think we all wanted to find the girl not guilty, however her story was completely unbelievable!
Found both parties guilty of one of the crimes but couldn't find them guilty of the main awful crime even though we so wanted too but due to gaps in the prosecutions evidence both cross examining the victim and the accused, we couldn't. They just didn't seem to ask the important questions.
The judge was very good he presented himself as on the side of the jury and that he was there to make sure what we heard was clear and that we understood. I have great respect for that judge.
Moose1978 said:
One of my fellow jurors went into Leeds at lunch to "see what the sale was like at Next", she returned around 20 minutes late and got a b
king from the judge.
Somebody did similar on another trial; she went shopping at M&S. The Judge asked her much she had spent and fined her the same amount.king from the judge.Mr E said:
98elise said:
I hope i never get called as I'm self employed so would lose my income. A long case would destroy me financially.
Some sort of insurance would seem a decent investment then?What would you do if you were significantly ill for a couple of years?
I have some BTL as part of my pension plan which could be sold to fund long term sick, however that's just an emergency back up.
I find it hard to understand why juror on a long trial has to suffer financially. Imagine being on a trial that ends with a caution. The guilty person gets a slap wrist, and all the jurors lose 2 weeks pay.
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