Jury Service - psychological stress
Discussion
A close friend of mine is currently on Jury service and I'm worried about her mental state. Naturally she can't give any details about the trial, but it's definitely impacting her mental health, I am unsure how much because I don't know the details.
She has a history of depression and anxiety and I fear the jury service may have life altering implications for her.
Is there anything that can be done? She's unlikely to take action herself, not without a push from someone and some instructions of what to do, she'll just continue to go and spend the night in tears until the trial is over and may never return to her mental state before the trail. It's more than speculation here, I'm concerned she will self harm or worse, life wasn't going well for her before jury service and it may be enough to push her over the edge.
She has a history of depression and anxiety and I fear the jury service may have life altering implications for her.
Is there anything that can be done? She's unlikely to take action herself, not without a push from someone and some instructions of what to do, she'll just continue to go and spend the night in tears until the trial is over and may never return to her mental state before the trail. It's more than speculation here, I'm concerned she will self harm or worse, life wasn't going well for her before jury service and it may be enough to push her over the edge.
Sorry to hear that your friend is going through this.
You can be excused from jury service if you have mental health issues without too much difficulty at all - she would just need to talk to the jury officer.
Possibly more of an issue if she's part way through a trial, of course, but the court won't want someone who's not thinking clearly to be part of a jury so still should be raised and the necessary action taken.
I guess the issue here is that she won't raise it?
I'm really not sure that you can do much to help here other than to persuade her to talk to the jury officer. I would be extremely surprised if they'd even acknowledge she is taking part if you called them up yourself, given that you could be anyone.
You can be excused from jury service if you have mental health issues without too much difficulty at all - she would just need to talk to the jury officer.
Possibly more of an issue if she's part way through a trial, of course, but the court won't want someone who's not thinking clearly to be part of a jury so still should be raised and the necessary action taken.
I guess the issue here is that she won't raise it?
I'm really not sure that you can do much to help here other than to persuade her to talk to the jury officer. I would be extremely surprised if they'd even acknowledge she is taking part if you called them up yourself, given that you could be anyone.
She needs to get herself out of there by the sound of it.
I worked with a guy who was on the jury for a very gruesome abuse case involving children.
It had a lasting affect on him to the extent that he needed some considerable help including counselling etc.
He had no previous history of mental health issues but just could not get to grips with the horrors that he heard as a jury member.
I worked with a guy who was on the jury for a very gruesome abuse case involving children.
It had a lasting affect on him to the extent that he needed some considerable help including counselling etc.
He had no previous history of mental health issues but just could not get to grips with the horrors that he heard as a jury member.
Saudade said:
Thank you all.
I've made her aware of her options, she's going to see the case through as all the jury are having a tough time and are there for each other. She made the point that if she doesn't do it then someone else will have to.
Tell her from me that is very brave of her (when training I was involved in a few awful cases and of course you get told about even worse ones)... And from you, tell her you will be there if at any point she needs help, as it is clear you will be. So well done to the both of you.I've made her aware of her options, she's going to see the case through as all the jury are having a tough time and are there for each other. She made the point that if she doesn't do it then someone else will have to.
Very brave of her , having anxiety issues. For those that don't know, anxiety can be slowly put aside, but come back with a vengeance if a sufferer is subject to stressful information/imagery.
If I were her, I'd withdraw. But it sounds like she thinks she can cope. Perhaps this might actually help her if she can brave it out.
If I were her, I'd withdraw. But it sounds like she thinks she can cope. Perhaps this might actually help her if she can brave it out.
I was on jury service a few years ago and one of the jurors on our case got paranoid that the guys on trial were following her from the court to her car after the first day of the trial. The two guys were real nasty peices of work and weren’t on remand. They were on trial for robbery and ABH. The next morning she had a panic attack while we were waiting to be called in by the Judge. She was excused from the trial and we carried on with a jury of 11.
So from my experience, if your friend is not up to it mentally, she can be excused and the trial will continue.
So from my experience, if your friend is not up to it mentally, she can be excused and the trial will continue.
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