Jury Service (Do NOT turn this into a 'how to get out of jury service' thread)

But if you get multiple people picked multiple times there is something wrong with the algorithm (or more likely, it's not actually random) because the chances are so tiny :p
 
robj20 said:
Not everyone wants to do it. Up to them if you ask me, why force people into it, when there are people that don't mind.
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it's one of those things like ambulances- you always pull over because you hope that if ever you're in need of one yourself that the ambulance that comes to rescue you has folk pulling over to let it past.

you were on the receiving end of a jury's decision you'd like to hope that they weren't motivated to make that decision based purely on whatever will let them go home as fast as possible.

dowie said:
But lower courts these lay jurors are some magical element for determining the truth, of course, the process by which they do that needs to be completely secret, can't have any openness about why Sharron the Tesco checkout worker came to her conclusion, that might undermine things a bit...
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isn't it less about pure "truth" and more about reasonability, to decide if the person accused's actions were the kind of thing they would do if they'd been put in that scenario.
 
Minstadave said:
If you pick people at random, some will be picked multiple times, some won't be picked at all. If everyone was picked the same number of times it'd very much not random.
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Yeah but not with that huge disparity. It is extremely likely its not random, there will be preferences e.g. to not have people with criminal records, certain backgrounds, etc.
 
Jury service always intrigues me. It must be horrendous if you end up on a really serious case, but I assume most of the time you aren’t? Knowing me I’d need frequent bathroom breaks, I can never sit still.
 
On the randomness, both my business partner and his sister were summoned recently for the same two-week period. Same surnames (on electoral role, she's recently married), both in Bristol.

It's also a very unusual surname so I doubt there's any more than 1, maybe 2 others, with the same surname in the whole of Bristol.

What are the chances of that?
 
I got called up to do Jury Service around four years ago, didn't even get through my mid twenties before getting picked. My mum found it hilarious because at just over 50 years old she had never been picked to do it and she never wanted to be picked, two years later she had the letter - gutted. Nobody else I know has ever been chosen.

I was dreading it beforehand, but in the end the worst part about the whole thing was that unless I wanted to park the other end of the city to get the parking charges reimbursed I had to pay £6 a day to park closer to the court house which is ultimately no big deal. On the Monday I sat in the waiting area waiting to see if I was going to be picked for a case, by lunch time me and quite a few others were dismissed and were told to come back the next day. Tuesday we had a much shorter wait before getting selected for a case which ended up being ridiculously straight forward, but a few people wanted more time to consider even though there was clear video evidence which you could have made a decision with in about five minutes. At the end of Tuesday there was still no verdict from the remaining undecided, but we got the Wednesday off. For some reason spent another whole day there on the Thursday and then we were all finally in agreement on the Friday morning - home by 1PM after the verdict was given.

The guy we found guilty was a complete clown, early twenties and he had over 50 offenses (mostly theft related) to his name already and went back to prison for the third time. There weren't enough cases on at the time to keep me there for a second week so I was back at work after the weekend. To be honest I think I'd preferred Jury Service to my job at the time, but it wasn't a difficult/grim case like some people get so a different case may have changed by stance on that. Funnily enough my auntie worked at the court at the time (not in the actual court room - admin), but she obviously wasn't allowed to give me insider information in to what cases I could be up for.
 
GTAMADDOG said:
I got called up to do Jury Service around four years ago, didn't even get through my mid twenties before getting picked. My mum found it hilarious because at just over 50 years old she had never been picked to do it and she never wanted to be picked, two years later she had the letter - gutted. Nobody else I know has ever been chosen.

I was dreading it beforehand, but in the end the worst part about the whole thing was that unless I wanted to park the other end of the city to get the parking charges reimbursed I had to pay £6 a day to park closer to the court house which is ultimately no big deal. On the Monday I sat in the waiting area waiting to see if I was going to be picked for a case, by lunch time me and quite a few others were dismissed and were told to come back the next day. Tuesday we had a much shorter wait before getting selected for a case which ended up being ridiculously straight forward, but a few people wanted more time to consider even though there was clear video evidence which you could have made a decision with in about five minutes. At the end of Tuesday there was still no verdict from the remaining undecided, but we got the Wednesday off. For some reason spent another whole day there on the Thursday and then we were all finally in agreement on the Friday morning - home by 1PM after the verdict was given.

The guy we found guilty was a complete clown, early twenties and he had over 50 offenses (mostly theft related) to his name already and went back to prison for the third time. There weren't enough cases on at the time to keep me there for a second week so I was back at work after the weekend. To be honest I think I'd preferred Jury Service to my job at the time, but it wasn't a difficult/grim case like some people get so a different case may have changed by stance on that. Funnily enough my auntie worked at the court at the time (not in the actual court room - admin), but she obviously wasn't allowed to give me insider information in to what cases I could be up for.
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The last part combined with the fact you and you rmum got picked close together I find interesting.
 
I did mine about 17-18 years ago. It was quite an unsettling experience listening to horrible acts being described out in exact detail, but at the same time it was an amazing experience, one that i'd happily jump at the chance to do again.
Without going into any detail, I was on a rather disturbing case involving paedophilia, but we were left with no option than to go for dismissal, the main witness was lying through the whole thing, so there was no corroboration and no real evidence presented.
It was quite something to experience and its something that has stuck with me since. When it came to it, I just tried to remove emotion, preconceived impressions of the defendant etc and just worked with the facts and evidence presented. Even though deep down I felt like the guy was a wrong'un. There was no way I could in good conscience with what was presented say he was guilty.
 
the cases ive sat on have all been trivial and boring. man pinches pair of shoes, lad hits doorman etc. the last time i was called up, i sat in a room with a load of strangers, every day for 2 weeks and didnt get a single case.
 
Never been summoned, does it depend on your past? Do they really select random people and say "right you gotta do it" ? Surely there's some "yes he can do it" and "no they can't".
 
Digital X said:
Never been summoned, does it depend on your past? Do they really select random people and say "right you gotta do it" ? Surely there's some "yes he can do it" and "no they can't".
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If you are not registered to vote, you will not be picked for jury service.

That is the database they use AFAIK.

Also if you DO NOT want to attend jury service.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/register-to-vote-anonymously

However if you are selected, you are at fault for not listening to me now, and thus you are forced to attend because you were a lazy **** who did not do the above.
 
Digital X said:
Never been summoned, does it depend on your past? Do they really select random people and say "right you gotta do it" ? Surely there's some "yes he can do it" and "no they can't".
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Short of mental illness/learning disability, they can't really select people for jury service, for obvious reasons.

I mean, imagine selecting people based on political leaning or whatever else :p

It would have to be random within the subset of people who are able to comprehend and partake in jury service.
 
i was dismissed after 3 days this time. quite pleased about that.
the case lasted that long because the judge liked his breaks so much. an hour and forty minutes for dinner, for example.
its fun trying to amuse yourself for that length of time when most shops are closed.
 
I have never been asked to do it and in all truth I hope I never have to, some of the cases are horrid and it would be my luck to have to sit in one of them trails that turn you inside out. I have done many years of military service, so I think I have done my bit for society.
 
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