Should Everyone Be Allowed to Serve on Juries?

Question

As long as an individual has not been convicted of a serious offence or is not mentally ill then he/she must serve on a jury in the UK if summoned.

I have recently completed my jury service at Canterbury Crown Court and I was absolutely horrified at the behaviour of some of the other jurors.

The case I was on lasted three weeks and two jurors took every Friday off 'sick' meaning that the trial was halted for three days at a cost of £10,000 a day to the tax payer and when we came to deliberate only four of us actually deliberated on the case with the other jurors being more interested in discussing their summer holiday plans and the state of the football premier league.

Should there be improved selection procedures to ensure that only responsible people are chosen to serve on juries or should the status quo be allowed to continue.

The following link provides additional examples of the unsuitability of many jurors:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4745030.stm

Answer 1

The clowns who abuse and disrupt the system would then be able to escape their obligation. I'd suggest instead having greater penalties for those who pull those sort of stunts, such as a day in jail or a heavy fine.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what the requirements for jury service are in the United Kingdom. The U.S. Constitution demands that an accused person is to be tried by a "jury of his peers." It is unfortunate that that doesn't happen. If it did justice would be meted out far differently.

Without judging O.J. Simpson. Consider. O.J. is a an African-American, who had been accused of killing his ex-wife and her friend. (Not a lover, just a friend.) Now, O.J. lived in a suburb of Los Angelas called Brentwood, in a home worth over a million dollars. His peers were people of like income and status. However, because he is wealthy, he was able to hire extremely competant attorneys. The trial should have been in Orange County, were his peers were located. Instead, the lawyers were able to get the trial transfered to Inner City Los Angeles. He was not tried by a jury of his peers, but by a group of people who were not in the same financial/socio-economic class as he. He was found innocent, dispite what some people think was overwhelming evidence against him. Of course the District Attorney made a bunce of mistakes. Whatever.

To answer your question. There was a time (in England) that whenever there was a trial, the judge ordered the bailiff to round up a jury and the first 12 men he came across were dragged into court to serve, like it or not. No, the voir dire process and slick procedures used by lawyers should be enough to ensure a competent jury.

Answer 3

Ironically, about three years ago they abolished a lot of the categories of persons who could escape jury service - it was a long list and rather archaic - solicitors, barristers, vets, vicars and so on.
Now they are all required to serve - even Judges.

As a result, the pool has been improved, I suspect. Because beforehand it was more or less a middle-class exemption - "needed at work - off you go? Self employed - you too" and so on".

Having been a litigator for 15 years, i have always been impressed with the tenacity and wisdom of the jury who usually take it seriously and usually get the right result too. .

There may be an argument for a minimum level of literacy. I'm not sure an IQ test would be feasible. If a jury member is not adhering to his/her oath, he/she can be reprimanded and even held in contempt. Hopefully the other members will overwhelm the idiots.

You might want to read an excellent book about modern jury service called 'the Juryman's tale' - quite excellent - interesting to see how your experience compares..

Answer 4

It is sad that people do not realise that he Jury System is their protection against the heavy handedness of the Authorities. It is independent and sometimes bloody minded juries that can force Justice with mercy. it should be noted that the UK government does not like juries and seeks gradually to reduce them to a role of little more than observers.
Yes I to have heard horror stories about the jury room
Yes I think everyone should be eligible for jury service and yes i do think some careful non political vetting should take place but even in this lies a danger of compromising the system. The only excuse from service must be ill health. business reasons can only be cited for a postponement.
loss of earnings paid to jurors should be on a pr oven basis without limit. The right of the accused to object to a member should be retained. If a juror knows the accused on a personal basis however slight it should be declared.

Attempting to interfere with the independence of a member of a jury should be punished with great severity.

Answer 5

Yes, you are to be judged by your peers; this could suggest that you are at the mercy of the prejudices and whims of the Jurors - on the other hand if the system was replaced by a select committee of lawyers who would most likely focus on the merits of the case they may arrive at conclusions that isn't in the interest of maintaining the status quo. That is the law must be seen to work and no more! Most open trials are a spectacle for public entertainment. Learn from your experience.

Answer 6

Where do you draw the line...single parent mothers can't be on juries what about abusive husbands? If you start trying to select people based on age, sexuality, race, gender etc it becomes ever more difficult to find jurors. People do need to be proud of the jury system, as the previous contributor pointed out it's what protects from government control and a police state.

Answer 7

The most important thing to remember here is that the courts are there to protect the innocent as well as convict the guilty. A jury is supposed to be our way of seeing that a person gets a fair trial and 'justice' is seen to be done.
In any situation, someone is going to exploit this to their own ends, we have to take the rough with the smooth or we could end up with a dictatorship.

Answer 8

while you wait to be called to a particular court docket room from the final pool of jurors? It relies upon your courthouse jury waiting section. In my city we've information superhighway and electric shops obtainable interior the very best court docket jury waiting section. you may could eliminate your computer out of your bag once you enter in the adventure that your courthouse's protection requests. yet, i don't think of that there are any prevalent prohibitions against bringing your computer. verify your court docket's website for juror information.

Answer 9

Read Heinliens (sp?) books
Stranger In A Strange Land
Time Enough For Love are the only two I remember

He describes what he calls a "Perfect Witness" who is what this world really needs.

Maybe you can google it or something

Answer 10

Only male property owners, that was what it used to be.

Now they cater to the lowest common denominator. My neighbour served on a jury recently and they even had single parent mothers on it.


.