Under the Juries act (1974) as commended by The Criminal Act (2003)to be eligible for jury service one must fit the following criteria: on the day one’s jury service begins, be at least 18 years of age yet under 70; one must have dwelled for at least 5 years in any of the following since the age of 13 either: The United Kingdom, Isle of Man or The Channel Islands; and finally one must be a registered elector on either the Parliamentary or Local Government register. If you study these compulsory qualifications you can see many aspects of them go against the law itself. For example the age restrictions contradicts the law of age discrimination; the lower boundary of 18 can be justified on the grounds of maturity and responsibility or even life experience, however the upper boundary of 70 can be seen as age discrimination.
As well as the necessary requirements there is also ways in which any person’s legal history, state of mind and disabilities can prevent them from being a juror. One can be disqualified on the grounds of criminal convictions which results in permanent disqualification. The following convictions would result in this: imprisonment, custody, or detention for life; a 5-year or more term of imprisonment or term of detention; any detention during The Secretary of State or Her Majesty’s pleasure; or imprisonment or detention due to public protection. Another length of disqualification is 10 years; any persons whom have any of the following against their name are disqualified for a fixed 10-year period: any persons whom in the past 10-years had either a community sentence or order passed against them; in the past 10-years had a suspended sentence or served any sentence of imprisonment in the past 10 years. Anyone who is currently on bail in criminal proceedings is also disqualified. Moving away from disqualifications based on legal history is that of disabilities and state of mind, again any person whom relates to these disqualifications i.e. mentally ill or in some way disabled (blind) can also be disqualified. Another thing which may prohibit any person to take part in jury service is anyone whom is unable to verbalize fluent English as this could affect the outcome of the case.
All those disqualified should be identified so that the Central Summoning Bureau can clearly see whom those people are on their records, however anyone who is chosen for jury service that is disqualified can be fined up to £5000 for failing to declare their disqualification. A process called vetting can be carried out to ensure they have no criminal record: in national security cases they may allow a wider background check.
Once those whom are eligible for jury service have been established a random selection takes place from the electoral roll known as allotment or sortation, once the bureau have liaised with the courts to ensure the correct amount of jurors are summoned; the jurors are sent a jury summons. Within that letter would be the court they must attend and on which dates. Jury service is on average 2 weeks long however can last longer. The selected Jurors are to take the period of time in which they will be at court, off work. All travel and food expenses are paid by the court.
There may be people whom wish to be excused from jury service and for this they must have a valid reason, they must then write a formal letter to the court explaining their reasons for wanting excusal. This type of excusal is known as discretionary excusal. Many people are denied their excusal however some such as Jehovah’s Witnesses whose religious beliefs prelude them from swearing oaths. In most cases the court will alter their service dates. If a person is not excused and they fail to attend they can be fined up to £1000.
Selected jurors must attend court on the appropriate date. When they arrive they are escorted to a waiting room until a case becomes available. Then the court clerk will announce 12 names at random to form the jury this is done in public in the courtroom: If any of them fall ill or die the lowest jurors can be 9. If there is a shortage of jurors the court has the right to choose someone from the public this member is called a talesman.
Once the jury has been chosen they are generally subjected to a system of examination. The defence and prosecution (plaintiff in civil cases) can object a juror. In most common countries this is known as voir dire. Any member may be challenged for example if they know the defendant or if they are disqualified. On rare occasions the whole jury is challenged due to them not being selected properly; a reason for this could be that they think it will be bias like R v Ford where it was a selected jury resulting in all jurors being of the same ethnic creed.
When the court begins jurors are able to take notes throughout the trial. After all of the evidence is heard jurors go to a private room where they decide on their verdict the judge first asks for a unanimous verdict but may change to a majority verdict if one ; cannot be found this discussion must be kept between jurors; failure to do so could result in a fine or even a prison sentence as they have breached the Contempt of Court Act 1981. Once a decision has been made a foreman or forewoman announces a verdict to the court.
