On Thursday I finished my stint as a juror. It was a very interesting experience and one that I would happily repeat. My fortnight was as action-packed as it could be. I was lucky; many others go on Jury Service to find that they sit around twiddling their thumbs, reading books or doing jigsaws.
So, what did my fortnight involve?
- 1 book
- 2 completed jigsaws
- 3 cases
- 2 court rooms
- 3 judges
- 6 barristers
- 13 live witnesses
- 34 jurors
- over 8 hours of deliberation
- 2 guilty verdicts, 1 ‘yes’ verdict
I didn’t talk about jury service very much while I was doing it. As jurors we ‘judge the evidence’ so talking about the intricacies of a case with anyone else, no matter how briefly, could lead to us being influenced by people who haven’t sat in the jury box and committed to truthfully carrying out our duties.
Now it’s over, our verdicts are in and those involved in the cases are waiting on their fate I thought I’d sum up my impressions of the experience (and hopefully not find myself getting into trouble for doing so).