I've just received a summons to serve as a juror. I'm 75 years old and thought I'd got away with it but apparently you have to be 76 or older to be exempt.
I'm not sure I can stay awake for a full day (I have to have a sleep at
1 o'clock) but otherwise I'm OK. Is that sufficient excuse? Is it worth mentioning?Any suggestions?
Another Dave
Just do it - it's not that bad.
How did you vote in the Brexit poll ... what do you think about 'foreigners', do you have to fill in a questionnaire? ;-)
Cheers, T i m
I am sure most of the rest of the jury wont stay awake either.
I got called (for the fourth time) a few years ago, so retired, but not as old as you.
I have sciatica, which doesn't cause me problems while I'm 'in charge' of how I do things, but would have a problem queuing/standing for a long time on public transport in the rush hour. And since the court I was called to was Central London, no option. Had it been an outer London court where I could park - or be travelling against the flow on PT so more likely to get a seat - I'd probably have been OK. But a nice letter explaining things resulted in not having to do it and being removed from the list.
Yes it is. It is a colossal waste of time. The only time I was called up, I sat around for two days, waiting for a jury to be called into court. And I was one of the jurors whose names weren't called. So it was back to waiting again. And a couple of days when they needed another jury, I was again one of those whose name wasn't called out in court.
This time they said "you can go home now: if you are "rejected" twice in court, you are excused.
So I never even got to see any action.
I feel VERY strongly that the whole concept of jury service is wrong. Juries should be composed of people who do the job full-time because they have chosen it as a career choice. They should not be made up of people who have been press-ganged into doing it and would rather be doing anything else, so they will tend to adopt the majority decision (unless they feel very strongly to the contrary) in order that the decision is reached quickly and they can go back to "real life" doing what they want to do.
Eh?
Another Dave
"I feel VERY strongly that the whole concept of jury service is wrong. Juries should be composed of people who do the job full-time because they have chosen it as a career choice."
My wife is from a former communist country. She said that she liked the jury system because the people were clearly not 'part of the state apparatus'.
Robert
It's costly if you do fall asleep and someone notices. On a case I was on one juror was 10 minutes late back from lunch she said s he was knitting and didn't hear her name called, she was fined £500.
If you notify them that you are likely to be prejudice because you (say), 'don't like foreigners' then they might discount you on those grounds (if that's what you want).
Cheers, T i m
Turn up in a wheelchair ?
I've read several posts in various disability forums where *jurors* have been turned away because the court was not accessible. (But courts have to be accessible for defendants ?) ?.
I think you underestimate the conscientiousness of most people, given a heavy responsibility.
Not exactly a career choice, but that's the magistracy (who incidentally retire at 70).
If chosen you get a reasonable free lunch and to see another side of life. I was truly horrified by the state of the carpets in the crime scene photos I saw.
Owain
Absolutely *not*. They would become too pally with the court system and police etc.
The idea of a lay jury is they decide on the facts as presented on the day. Something those reading press reports often fail to realise.
Find someone to go pretending to be you? (Personation of a juror is contempt of court punishable in theory by whatever sentence the judge fancies but on the plus side I'd reckon you could count on being disqualified from future service.)
Quite. I've done three lots of jury service and sat on 6 juries. And was very impressed by how seriously everyone took their duties. Luckily, most people are good citizens. Except from on here, of course. ;-)
It must be annoying to sit around and not try any cases. However, that doesn't mean you wasted your time. Just be being there you enabled trials to proceed.
Or they might have you in front of the judge for contempt of court. "I can't stay awake in the afternoons" is a perfectly good excuse that won't get you into trouble.
Take good book.
I got called once. I gave an excuse (quite a good one), and they let me off on that occasion. I've never been called again. I assume that there are enough people happy to do it that the court officials don't try too hard to get people who appear unwilling.
I've got more time now, and I'd be happy to do my bit, but I'm probably on the no-call list.
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