I find it weird but none of my family have ever been called up. Four kids. One has a minor criminal record so I assume that's why the other three of us has never been called. I guess as find it odd as none of us called. Years back my dad always blamed it on the fact he was from Belfast.
Its amazing the way that people either get called or don't.
I got called up twice in the UK - and got out of it both times - and have been called up FIVE times in Australia - and have managed to get out of it each time here as well.
In contrast, my twin brother has never been called up either in the UK or here.
Did it once at belmarsh and being self employed earnt a fraction of my wages, got called up again and said only if you pay me what I earn or I can't pay my mortgage, they let me off.
I got call up once, Royal Courts in the Strand for a libel case. It lasted all of 2 hours, the 2 parties came to an agrement then the judge thanked us and dismissed us. Total waste of tax payers money and time.
If I ever get called again I'll make it clear straight off; their guilty, on the grounds they got this far
I mentioned on the southeastern thread about how I had a court case because I got caught 3 times without a ticket. I got a £180 fine. Maybe being called up means i don't have a criminal record
If I ever get called again I'll make it clear straight off; their guilty, on the grounds they got this far
FFS, I hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek with that one. Otherwise, how much tax payer's money do you really want to waste sending down a potentially innocent person?
I've done it twice. Always been Foreman. Make sure you are too. Otherwise you'll get frustrated with the inevitable couple of thickos you'll get lumbered with. You need to stop people playing detective when you are deliberarting your verdict. You can only reach a decision on the evidence you've been given. Too many people think they are Miss Marple or Columbo and start looking for clues and coming up with theories as if they are there to solve the case.
One of the things I noticed is that generally barristers are not as clever and slick as they are on the telly!
Don't believe the cautionary tales you hear about the woman on the jury who was caught knitting and the judge fined her £100 a stitch or the bloke who was fined £1,000 per minute for when he fell asleep. They are a load of rubbish despite all these things only happening "last week"....
I mentioned on the southeastern thread about how I had a court case because I got caught 3 times without a ticket. I got a £180 fine. Maybe being called up means i don't have a criminal record
I'd happily find you guilty! Why did you not have a ticket?
If I ever get called again I'll make it clear straight off; their guilty, on the grounds they got this far
FFS, I hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek with that one. Otherwise, how much tax payer's money do you really want to waste sending down a potentially innocent person?
Friend of the family got excused from Jury Service on those very grounds. He was an ex copper and told the judge that in his opinion anyone in the box is guilty.
I've done Jury Service twice now, once at Belmarsh and once at Southwark. Got on cases both times so at least it wasn't too boring but the second time really knocked my faith in the jury system. It was very clear that several members of the jury simply did not understand what was happening and another declared that she was going with whichever verdict got her out of court in time to go shopping. We even had one juror who decided on a combination of verdicts (there were multiple defendants on multiple charges) that was physically impossible!
Done it once, at Southwark. In the fortnight we were only in court hearing a case for about 16 hours. Lots of sitting around.
I was impressed by my fellow jurors. They all took it seriously and were intelligent. We had an alleged paedo. He was clearly innocent. Felt sorry fo the guy being dragged through the process.
I really think that if ever I was in trouble with the law and had the option, I'd choose to be tried by a magistrate. They might come from a different social background to me and may not be sympathetic, but at least I'd stand a chance of getting someone that is is intelligent, interested and impartial. Sadly, it seems to me that trusting the public to meet these three criteria is a bit of a tall ask.
I seriously think that there should be some sort of aural comprehension test that you have to pass before being allowed to serve. The only problem I can see with that, is that some people would deliberately fail because they didn't want to be there.
I have done it twice, once at Southwark for a week before being transferred to Old Bailey, that was when i was 18. I got called up a week after i turned 18 and deferred it for 3 months as I was due to start my first job the same day.
I also got called up at xmas last year and did it in March at Inner London Crown Court. Did 3 cases in total and made some really great friends in the spare time in between, nearly got on a football hooligan case that was due to go on for 6 weeks. I wasn't working so would have loved that!
Had a few arguments in the jury room for a couple of the cases as some people are so blinkered and narrow minded and think that their way of life is right and that anyone with any hardship brings it on themselves. feel totally confident that we made the right decision in all of the cases we had and on one felt awful that after hearing the victim's evidence and just seeing the accused we were dismissed for the weekend and thought he was guilty. on the monday we heard his side, heard him speak, heard his background and eventually we found him not guilty. one of the other jurors had his card marked from the beginning and didn't change her mind. She said "I bet after the verdict they read a list of previous convictions" but they didn't, he had never been in trouble before.
Also, didn't claim for loss of earnings just my travel expenses but about a month later I got a statement through paying me £600. nice.
It is very satisfying after delivering a guilty verdict to hear the clerk of the court read out a list of previous convictions, especially for the same offence.
At my old firm we were working on a six month fraud trial or might have been longer. When I used to pop to court for something or other, I felt sorry looking at these poor jurors who had been put on the case. I'm sure they didnt have a clue what was being said and the intricacies of insider trading. Imagine if you were self employed on that one. Actually i think they wanted to change the process for fraud trials after that.
At my old firm we were working on a six month fraud trial or might have been longer. When I used to pop to court for something or other, I felt sorry looking at these poor jurors who had been put on the case. I'm sure they didnt have a clue what was being said and the intricacies of insider trading. Imagine if you were self employed on that one. Actually i think they wanted to change the process for fraud trials after that.
It maybe that it's because of who you work for. Potential conflict of interest perhaps but not sure.
I've been selected four times at four different addresses. Dodged the last one as was self-employed by then
would love 2 have a go, but being realistic there isnt much chance. My father has called up 3 times.He was also a leed audior on several fraud cases and it didnt stop him being called up.
I wasn't working. Didn't have an income and put down the times I was at the court each day as it told me to but didn't fill in any details about where I was working. (cos I wasn't!) You wouldn't just get £600 if you were working normally as your work would either pay you for the duration as normal or you claim back your wages (up to a certain amount) from the court. Some of the people I was doing it with worked shifts and weekends but it wasn't really fair for them to work more days at weekend after being in court so that took a bit of working out.
The producer of top gear was in my group and tried to arrange to park his car in the carpark of the court for both weeks but it was awkward as he didn't know the model, colour, reg of any of them in advanced as he was given cars to test. One day he had a yellow ferrari and parked it on a meter round the corner but got a ticket as it was so wide it was out of the white lines of the space!
done it last year at Belmarsh, was lucky enough to get on two cases. The first lasted two days but was just the warm up for one lasting two weeks. As said above you always get a right couple of knob heads on the jury who are only interested in getting out early and are not interested at all in making the right decision. Make them be interested. It's an important duty and needs to be taken seriously. If people are mucking around, laughing and joking, reading a book whilst you are deliberating etc don't be afraid to dig them out. Don't be swayed by others and always stand your ground if you believe what you think is right. First vote we had the guy was not guilty by nine to three. We ended up sending him down by 11-1. When he was sentanced he smirked and smiled at us. Then his previous was read out. Those who previously thought him innocent were so pleased they had considered things properly and changed their mind. Got a ten stretch for raping a 14 yr old boy. Never in my life have I been so happy as he was sentanced.
Last time I did this, the trial in the court next door had been going on for over 8 months! I considered myself very lucky that our case only lasted the scheduled 2 weeks.
Its not a speech, its swearing you in. It is nerve wracking though and very formal.
I had some idiots on it with me, that couldn't read the oath and then just went with the majority because they didn't understand/care what was going on. One woman fell asleep during the prosecution summing up and the usher had to nudge the jury members to wake her up.
then the Judge's clerk closed her eyes for about 30 minutes one afternoon. the court rooms are not like they are in films unless you're in court 1 or 2 of a big old court. the modern ones are rubbish.
Well did my first Jury service at Southwark Crown court, took long enought ocatch up with me, as I am 55.
Well first wek a total waste for two days sent home about 2pm, and then told to phone each morning for the next 3 days to see if wanted.
Second week got a case, that should have lasted no more than two days but eneded up four, because of admin cock ups.
For example they wanted to play the audio recording of the defendants interview in police stations, but the court did not have a machine that could play the tape/discthen wanted to show cctv video of the incident, so police downloaded the recording to memory stick only to find it had been corrupted and was unrecoverable.
One of the defendants witnesses had done a bunk, he was Brazilian so they had to discuss wethere his evidence could be read to us.
So it continued like this all over a fight between a bloke and a doorman that gave the victim a hairline fracture of his cheek bone.
it was one persons word against another and we had to decide who was telling the truth. It was impossible to say who broke the victims cheek bone as a number people where there at the time so had to let the doorman off due to reasonable doubt.
So for 4 days a judge two barristers a solicitor and two police officers had to be payed for,and most the time spent not doing any thing.This must of cost us tens of thousands of pounds for some thing that should not have come to court.
It always amazes me the amount of time that is wasted in these courts. Start late, have lunch for however long the judge needs to get to his club and back, finish whenever suits them. Don't get me wrong, it was great for me personally as I got to lie in in the morning and get home early, but it is so inefficient and such a waste of time and money.
I thought that as well, but in Inner London Crown Court, they had a list of the hearings on a screen and loads of them didn't need jurys, so even though you weren't in court, the judges were in court early doing pre-hearings, sentancing, and all sorts of stuff that didn't need jury's.
Also, in the summing up of our big case the judge literally reiterated everything from the prosecution and the witnesses in regards the case reading from his notes and quoting what people had said. At times during the process he asked the witness/victim to pause whilst he wrote what they were saying.
I have no idea why they don't use stenographers in every court, but the judge we had definately worked harder than the 5 hours a day we seemed to be in court for by the time we gathered etc.
Comments
Possibly.
I've got a Criminal Record and neither me nor my siblings have been called up.
Would probably like it myself. Be interesting.
Its amazing the way that people either get called or don't.
I got called up twice in the UK - and got out of it both times - and have been called up FIVE times in Australia - and have managed to get out of it each time here as well.
In contrast, my twin brother has never been called up either in the UK or here.
Loads of my pals been called. Just none of us.
It lasted all of 2 hours, the 2 parties came to an agrement then the judge thanked us and dismissed us. Total waste of tax payers money and time.
If I ever get called again I'll make it clear straight off; their guilty, on the grounds they got this far
I've done it twice. Always been Foreman. Make sure you are too. Otherwise you'll get frustrated with the inevitable couple of thickos you'll get lumbered with. You need to stop people playing detective when you are deliberarting your verdict. You can only reach a decision on the evidence you've been given. Too many people think they are Miss Marple or Columbo and start looking for clues and coming up with theories as if they are there to solve the case.
One of the things I noticed is that generally barristers are not as clever and slick as they are on the telly!
Don't believe the cautionary tales you hear about the woman on the jury who was caught knitting and the judge fined her £100 a stitch or the bloke who was fined £1,000 per minute for when he fell asleep. They are a load of rubbish despite all these things only happening "last week"....
I've done Jury Service twice now, once at Belmarsh and once at Southwark. Got on cases both times so at least it wasn't too boring but the second time really knocked my faith in the jury system. It was very clear that several members of the jury simply did not understand what was happening and another declared that she was going with whichever verdict got her out of court in time to go shopping. We even had one juror who decided on a combination of verdicts (there were multiple defendants on multiple charges) that was physically impossible!
Done it once, at Southwark. In the fortnight we were only in court hearing a case for about 16 hours. Lots of sitting around.
I was impressed by my fellow jurors. They all took it seriously and were intelligent. We had an alleged paedo. He was clearly innocent. Felt sorry fo the guy being dragged through the process.
Never a truer word has been spoken. Though they usually think that they are.
I also got called up at xmas last year and did it in March at Inner London Crown Court. Did 3 cases in total and made some really great friends in the spare time in between, nearly got on a football hooligan case that was due to go on for 6 weeks. I wasn't working so would have loved that!
Had a few arguments in the jury room for a couple of the cases as some people are so blinkered and narrow minded and think that their way of life is right and that anyone with any hardship brings it on themselves. feel totally confident that we made the right decision in all of the cases we had and on one felt awful that after hearing the victim's evidence and just seeing the accused we were dismissed for the weekend and thought he was guilty. on the monday we heard his side, heard him speak, heard his background and eventually we found him not guilty. one of the other jurors had his card marked from the beginning and didn't change her mind. She said "I bet after the verdict they read a list of previous convictions" but they didn't, he had never been in trouble before.
Also, didn't claim for loss of earnings just my travel expenses but about a month later I got a statement through paying me £600. nice.
It is very satisfying after delivering a guilty verdict to hear the clerk of the court read out a list of previous convictions, especially for the same offence.
Not fair, i want to have a go.
At my old firm we were working on a six month fraud trial or might have been longer. When I used to pop to court for something or other, I felt sorry looking at these poor jurors who had been put on the case. I'm sure they didnt have a clue what was being said and the intricacies of insider trading. Imagine if you were self employed on that one. Actually i think they wanted to change the process for fraud trials after that.
I've been selected four times at four different addresses. Dodged the last one as was self-employed by then
The producer of top gear was in my group and tried to arrange to park his car in the carpark of the court for both weeks but it was awkward as he didn't know the model, colour, reg of any of them in advanced as he was given cars to test. One day he had a yellow ferrari and parked it on a meter round the corner but got a ticket as it was so wide it was out of the white lines of the space!
Didn't realise you have to give some sort of speech thing while the accused are staring at you. Was bricking it but will have to do it at some point
I had some idiots on it with me, that couldn't read the oath and then just went with the majority because they didn't understand/care what was going on. One woman fell asleep during the prosecution summing up and the usher had to nudge the jury members to wake her up.
then the Judge's clerk closed her eyes for about 30 minutes one afternoon. the court rooms are not like they are in films unless you're in court 1 or 2 of a big old court. the modern ones are rubbish.
Well did my first Jury service at Southwark Crown court, took long enought ocatch up with me, as I am 55.
Well first wek a total waste for two days sent home about 2pm, and then told to phone each morning for the next 3 days to see if wanted.
Second week got a case, that should have lasted no more than two days but eneded up four, because of admin cock ups.
For example they wanted to play the audio recording of the defendants interview in police stations, but the court did not have a machine that could play the tape/discthen wanted to show cctv video of the incident, so police downloaded the recording to memory stick only to find it had been corrupted and was unrecoverable.
One of the defendants witnesses had done a bunk, he was Brazilian so they had to discuss wethere his evidence could be read to us.
So it continued like this all over a fight between a bloke and a doorman that gave the victim a hairline fracture of his cheek bone.
it was one persons word against another and we had to decide who was telling the truth. It was impossible to say who broke the victims cheek bone as a number people where there at the time so had to let the doorman off due to reasonable doubt.
So for 4 days a judge two barristers a solicitor and two police officers had to be payed for,and most the time spent not doing any thing.This must of cost us tens of thousands of pounds for some thing that should not have come to court.
Also, in the summing up of our big case the judge literally reiterated everything from the prosecution and the witnesses in regards the case reading from his notes and quoting what people had said. At times during the process he asked the witness/victim to pause whilst he wrote what they were saying.
I have no idea why they don't use stenographers in every court, but the judge we had definately worked harder than the 5 hours a day we seemed to be in court for by the time we gathered etc.