Would you be good on a Jury?

Rosie_Scope

I've recently been watching the new series of The Jury on Channel 4. It's a mock-trial based on a real murder case. Everyone is played by actors except for the jury. They are presented with the evidence just as you would be in a real trial and have to decide whether the defendants are guilty or not guilty. I'd recommend it if you're into that sort of thing!

I found it really interesting and it got me thinking about whether I'd make a good juror or not. I'm usually quite good at looking at the facts and sticking to my gut feeling, but I wonder how much I'd allow myself to be influenced by other people's opinions. I'm not always the strongest at speaking up but I hope I'd find the strength for something that important!

Have you ever done Jury Service? Do you think you'd be good at being on a jury?

Starman

I got called up for jury service back in 2004, but i was really bad with my balance, co-ordination and had concentration problems, having started with all that a couple of years earlier. I hadn't had a proper diagnosis by then, they just said it was neurological, so i explained this to the people who had called me up, and they said i didn't have to do it. In some ways i was disappointed, but like i explained to them, this was a serious thing to be called up, and if my health affected my attendance, judgement etc, i wouldn't be much use, so they understood.

Rosie_Scope

It's tough isn't it @Starman. I don't think my health would cope with a proper trial either really, but I think I'd find it interesting if I could do it. It's good that they understood and let you off.

If you could manage it, do you think you'd be able to hold your own when it came to making decisions? Or do you think you'd go with the rest of the jury?

Starman

Tough one, I'd like to think i would stick to my guns if i truly believed one way or the other, but not everything in those things are clear cut are they? I'd just hope with the evidence presented to me i could come to the best conclusion i could, and hope everyone could do that given what they have to deal with. I have actually seen the ads for the C4 thing, i'll have to catch up with it at some point.

MissMarple

I'm too unwell to serve on a jury, but hypothetically: I think I would be good at being objective, looking at facts instead of going by my feelings, and standing up to peer pressure. On the other hand, it's an enormous responsibility to have such influence over the fate of another human being so I would probably be reluctant to convict anyone, unless they were literally caught red-handed.

Rosie_Scope

That's a really good point @MissMarple! Having such power to change someone's life is a huge responsibility. I think I'd struggle too if things weren't very clear cut. It would always be at the back of my mind whether I'd made the right decision or not.

66Mustang

My dad often had to go to court to present evidence against suspects he'd been investigating. He worked in an area which had 3 main courts: one in a well-known university city, one was in a very large deprived town, and one in a semi-conservative rural area. He used to find it really interesting how the juries would tend to represent the demographics of the area. He'd occasionally get home from the student-city after trying to prosecute someone he knew was guilty, very frustrated as the liberal/philosophical demographic would question the nature of the crime and whether something like property crime should be a crime in the first place. A jury in the deprived town would sometimes sympathise with the motivation behind the crime. Likewise, he would mention how relatively easy it was to get a conviction in the semi-rural-conservative area because "they'd say anyone who looks dodgy is guilty".

Stellar

I wouldnt cope with being on a jury. fortunately i can just tell them im disabled and wouldnt cope with a trial and they'll make me exempt.

Rachel_Scope

Ooh I've been meaning to watch this! I would like the opportunity to be on a jury but it would depend on what the case involved as to whether I'd feel able to do it.

That's incredibly fascinating to read @66Mustang. I wonder if there has been some research into this where they've seen certain crimes being judged as not guilty due to the demographics?

ChrisR777

It depends on tthe disability whether you can carry out jury service. I called the clerk, and she still didn't immediately strike my name off, even when I mentioned wheelchairs, having no car, and very limited public transport to and from the court.

Once I had confirmed that no family could take me, and I enquired who would pay the hundreds in disabled taxi fares, only then was I excused.

dolfrog

Back in the 1980s i did Jury Service, and the result of thw cse was so obvious, but i had had problems following what was being said during the trial.

i waa clinically diagnosed as hqaving Auditory Processing Disorder in 2003, and when i wa asked to do Jury service a few years later i explaind that I have a lifelong listening disablity, and that i need to lipread all the people i may be listening to, whih is not possible during a trial.

So I was permanenty removed from Jury Service

Rag_793

With both my Mental & Physical Health being compromised, I would not be able to do it. Plus I have a personal thing against the judicial system after my late Uncle was murdered by two lads on drink and drugs when they ran him down and dragged him up the road and sped off. 10 year driving ban starting from when they went in jail alongside a 3 year jail term 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

66Mustang

@Rachel_Scope

It definitely seemed to be very dependant on the nature of the crime as well as the location. The demographics that definitely tended to be extraordinarily lenient on property/trespass offences would often be harsher on crimes against the person, especially more modern-day-aware crimes. Then you could get the other way round elsewhere, perhaps where wealth and property ownership is higher but there's a social status quo to maintain.

It kind of makes sense if literally interpreting the idea that we are to be judged by our peers… but then it does also reinforce the divide of different demographics into different areas 🤔

kreacher

i watched the final 2 episodes of the jury tonight and i got the verdict right, i went with what the actual jury found, i won't put the result as i don't want to spoil it for anyone

i would hate to be on a actual jury

Amberpearl

No never been called

Is be useless

To shy

Jean Eveleigh

Having studied law, psychology and criminology, as well as being an avid fan of police procedural and legal films, dramas and documentaries, I would hope I would be a good fit for a jury however realistically I am not well enough to ever sit on one. I would not be able to sit upright long enough plus with the effects of my pain medication and fatigue levels I would loose cognition before we got to lunch :-(

Rosie_Scope

Sounds like you'd be fantastic @Jean Eveleigh! That must have been so interesting to study too, I'm very jealous. It's a shame so many of us couldn't take part in the real thing for health reasons, I bet you'd be a real asset to a jury!

Carl_Scope

I think the weight of responsibility would get to me, so I probably wouldn't make a very good juror.

Mary_Scope

I'm really not sure, in theory I like to think I would be but in practice who knows! I think I would get too stressed, overthink and doubt everything and myself.