The Basics Of Jury Service

For a criminal law case to be heard in court a jury is necessary

. A jury consists of twelve or fifteen jurors. These jurors are members of the general public who sit in on the court case, analyse the evidence, and decide upon a verdict.

Jury service is a civic duty, and if chosen people must attend except for in exceptional circumstances when they can apply to be excused. In some cases those chosen for jury service can ask for it to be delayed if the timing is particularly inconvenient for work, health or personal reasons. In these situations they will have to do their jury service within the next year. In most circumstances, though, jurors have to attend jury service as instructed and are fined 1,000 if they do not.

People are chosen for jury service randomly. The majority of people aged between 18 and 65 are eligible to be called up. Typically, jury service lasts for ten working days, although this can last longer for lengthy court cases, usually serious criminal trials. The two week period can include more than one trial but there are also times when it will not include any. This is dependent on the nature of the cases and any changes in the situations of cases that are due to take place. Trials can be dropped, for example where a suspect pleads guilty at the last minute or the judge decides there is not enough evidence to hear the case.

It is a legal requirement for employers to grant employees time off when they have been selected for jury service. This will be extra paid time off to ensure employees dont lose their holiday entitlement and dont lose out financially. For very long cases, for example where they may last for a year, employers must be consulted and may be able to prevent an employee being away for this length of time.

While on jury service, people are part of a large pool of potential jurors. For a particular case, the required number of jurors are chosen randomly. Solicitors on either side of the case can object to a particular juror serving on the trial but must have a genuine reason for this. Should both sides object it is likely that juror will not be on the trial. If only one side objects the judge decides whether or not the reason given is likely to affect the jurors decision making. If someone is likely to be biased towards one side or another then they will be deemed an inappropriate juror. For obvious reasons, someone involved in the case in some way or someone who knows someone involved will not sit on the jury.

Jurors are banned from talking about a case while it is taking place. This includes talking to a spouse about it. The only people it can be discussed with are the other jurors and this can only take place in the jury room. Once a case is over it can be discussed unless the judge has explicitly banned it.

After a trial has been completed, the jury must discuss the case and decide upon a verdict. In criminal trials there are three possible verdicts; guilty, not guilty and not proven. For a guilty verdict to pass at least eight jurors must agree.

Andrew Marshall

by: expo09

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