8 replies to this topic

[DiBBz]

yep i just got a letter today saying that im a potential selection for jury service... and while i really really don't want to be picked what so ever, i feel il end up being picked anyways.

 

so im just wondering for anyone that has done this... any thoughts or feedback on what it was like ?

 

im getting anxious all ready just thinking about it.

[Mitch]

From the couple of times friends/family have done it it's not too bad. One person became good friends with the defendant, and another was on quite an interesting case so enjoyed it. I guess it's just luck of the draw!

[Wookybear]

yep i just got a letter today saying that im a potential selection for jury service... and while i really really don't want to be picked what so ever, i feel il end up being picked anyways.

 

so im just wondering for anyone that has done this... any thoughts or feedback on what it was like ?

 

im getting anxious all ready just thinking about it.

 

Done it twice, its not too bad at all. However your experience may vary for several reasons.

 

You can spend two weeks just sat in the waiting room and never get picked. This has benefits but can be boring, bring a book or three.

 

Some cases are really simple and painless, however since you don't get to choose you may end up on a really unpleasant case (I did on one of my stints) and since you arent allowed to discuss the case with people outside of your fellow jury for risk of being influenced by them you just have to keep it to yourself.

 

Also if you arent on a case by a certain time of day you get to go home early, this can also happen at the end of 2 week period, if theres no point you starting a potentially long case you can finish early, but again on the flipside, if a case goes on a lot longer than planned you may be stuck in there for even longer.

Edited by Wookybear, 17 December 2015 - 06:40 pm.

[Fozzies]

ive done it once and really enjoyed it, had to refuse it the second time on the grounds i couldnt support my family on the money they were offering me. If circumstances changed, i would definately do it again.

I'll admit to being one of the lucky ones, had in total 3 cases, and in total 4 hours of sitting around waiting, but the cases were fascinating, and the combined effort when we retired to work out first what had really happened, and then whether the individuals were actually guilty of the crime they were accused of made it really easy to get up in the morning!

 

top marks, they should make a PC game based on it

 

Edit: Forgot to mention, don't go to the local pub for lunch as you may end up eating your lunch with the defendants family staring at you.....

Edited by Fozzies, 17 December 2015 - 06:46 pm.

[Monkeypooh]

i did it this time last year ....first up they explain how the jury and court works and your role in it ...then u go and sit in the jury waiting room ....this is really boring so bring something to do ...misconception is that u are there for a trial ...no u are there for any number of trials from zero to how ever many they want to use u for the 2 weeks ...if there are no trials that day for u then they may send u home ...if there are no trial for the 2 weeks then they will discharge u...if u get a trial on your last day of your 2 weeks then u will have to be at that trial till it finishes even if its past your 2 weeks ...

 

u enter the jury waiting room sit and wait ..if there is a new trial they may call u for selection along with 14 other people ...u may or may not be one of the 12 selected from the 15 to sit that trial ...if u are not u are then asked to leave the court and go back to the jury waiting room ....if u are selected u are sworn in and u start to hear evidence ...at this point u are kept separated from the others in the jury waiting room and use the jury room which has food/drinks brought to u and its own toilet...when the trial finishes which maybe hours or days (u go home under oath if trial is days) u go back to the jury selection room ...

 

i did 2 days in jury selection room getting sent home on second day at launch time ...got trial next day at about 11 .oclock which finished the day after at about 2 o.clock went back to jury selcection room and got sent home ...came in next day waited till 12 o.clock and judge discharged all of us as they had done all the trials they wanted to do before xmass and would restart with a new jury list in the new year ...

 

hope this helps ...the process is really boring and no reason to have any fear ...just use yer mind/intellect/compassion when u deliberate the verdict, remember to speak what u think is right and not to be swayed but open to other points of view

[Wookybear]

Also be careful about what you take into the building, you will go through metal detectors so expect to have to mess about if you have a load of stuff that will trigger them, your bag and person can also be searched. 

[dannygoz9]

did it last month, oh how the other half live.

 

i only had one case lasted the week, prob the worst type of case imaginable, ill let you figure that out. Got let off the second week.

 

Alot of sitting about waiting, sighing, being generally bored. Told to be therefor half ten every day , court were ready around eleven, twelve o clock break for an hour dinner, etc etc. Do not think we sat for longer than an hour, without a break, or sent back to the waiting room at any one point during the entire week.

 

Nothing to worry about at all, the only one thing i would say like monkeypooh pointed out, is if and when you deliberate, your decision, is your decision, no one elses, but do take other peoples points into consideration. Speak up and put your points across, for others to cross reference and examine, i found this very helpful and mind settling when finalizing my decision

[DiBBz]

thanks all for the re-assuring thoughts and tips... tho yea its going to be a bit of a nightmare for me to find something to do.

 

Phone.... Nope! broke some time ago.

 

book... not that i know of any in the house i listen to books rather than reading them

 

and while i have a somewhat some anxity.. in certain situations it tends to make me feel un-easy but i guess il just need to power through it, if i do get picked that is (which i really hope i don't any time soon)

[Azerra]

You can spend two weeks just sat in the waiting room and never get picked.

 

This was my experience. I didn't get picked, was subjected to a room full of people that were content with watching Jeremy Kyle all day.

 

I felt sorry for the people who were to be judged by those lot.

Edited by Azerra, 17 December 2015 - 08:12 pm.