Are you nervous about jury duty? This Q&A is for you.

Hello guys, I've recently completed my jury duty in London and I wanted to do a blog post about my experience - I was quite nervous about doing it and so I wanted to talk to a lot of people about it but that was a bad mistake. Not everyone has done it before and some people really don't know what the hell they are talking about but they still say incorrect, misleading and false things to me about it. This is why I wanted to write this post to dispel some of the half-truths and stupid misleading crap out there about the issue here and help put your mind at ease. Honestly, if you don't know anything about the topic, just say the words "I don't know", those three magic words rather than spout complete rubbish. 

Q: How do I get excused from jury duty? 

This is the first question a lot of people ask (and it did cross my mind as well). There is a list of valid and acceptable reasons how you can get excused the moment you get called up but that list is extremely short. You will find the full list here, I'm always going to refer you back to official sources as I'm so sick and tired of people saying rubbish to me about this. But remember, you can postpone your jury duty at best, say if you have an exam, then they will call you up for jury duty after your exam. There needs to be quite specific circumstances to be totally excused, say if you are the sole carer for a sick or disabled family member. If your excuses are related to work, then tough shit, they government doesn't care. I'm a self-employed sole-trader and even I had to go serve jury duty even if the harsh reality is that if I don't work, I don't earn. That's not enough to be excused from jury duty - I still had to do it even if it seemed harsh but like I said, tough shit.

Q: But what if I don't want to do it! 

I refer you to the phrase above, "tough shit, too bad" above. Even if you appeal, you will be told you have to do it, tough shit, too bad, no one cares whether or not you want to do it or not - nobody is even giving you a choice about the matter. 

Q: What about self-employed people? 

This is where there is a little wriggle room, but you still have to do it, no ifs, no buts. I am in that difficult position whereby I am self-employed and if I don't work, I don't earn. That's NOT a valid reason to be excused from jury duty! What I did do however, was show up to jury duty with a valid reason to appeal against being placed on a trial that may last longer than two weeks - that's exactly what happened. Of course, I can't divulge the details of the case but given how serious it was, I was told it would run for an estimated eight to ten weeks. When I was selected to be on that jury, I was given the chance to approach the judge and explain to the judge that I am a self-employed sole-trader, if I don't work, I don't earn. My business would simply collapse if I am away from work for that long as there is no one to take my place to do the work - I would be left with a massive loss after clients desert me to go to alternative suppliers and that would leave me with substantial financial and commercial losses. I showed up at court expressing my willingness to serve my civic duty in good faith that the system would in turn be understanding to my situation, the judge then said fine I'll excuse you from this case. The judge did ask me some questions about my business but the whole process took just under two minutes - the judge was fair and understanding, hence I would not worry too much about this. But note that I had to accept my jury duty, I had to show up in person at court and explain my case to a judge before the judge can dismiss me from that particular case, I then returned to the jury pool waiting to be placed on a less complex case that wouldn't take as long or to simply wait out my duty period there. You are expected to make some sacrifices and take a financial hit by making yourself available for jury duty  but tough shit, you really don't have a choice in the matter at all. If you wanna say "but that is not fair", tough shit, you are right, life was never fair in the first place and this is a good example of how unfair it is. 

Q: How long will my jury duty last? 

It is hard to predict but there are two scenarios: either you get placed on a case and you serve until the jury is asked to deliver a verdict (however long that may take), or you are not picked for a case during your duty period and are released at or before the end of that period. For me, it was the latter. The cases in the courts had all the jurors they needed and when it was clear that they weren't going to put together a new jury before the end of my two week period so they released me. The worst case scenario is about six months for the most serious cases, but I have also heard of people who have served for one or two days only before being released. The bigger courts will deal with more complex cases that will take longer, but the smaller courts however would deal with less serious cases that might conclude more quickly. 

Q: I am not in good health, can I be excused on medical ground? 

It depends on how sick you are and if your condition will severely affect your ability to serve on the jury. Try to get a note from your doctor to explain why your condition is so serious you really should be exempt. In my research, I have heard that an old man approached the judge to explain that he has a medical condition which meant that he needed to take medicine several times a day, the judge said I'm afraid that's not a valid reason, we'll give you breaks for things like that. 

Q: What if I get stuck on a complex case that will take many months?

That is the worst case scenario. If you are not self employed, if you're not caring for a sick or disabled family member, if you're not a new parent with a baby under 12 months old, then there is a possibility that they will put you on a long trial that will take many months. If you don't want to be in that situation but don't have a good enough excuse, what the judge would do is to put you in the 'stand by' category. The judge will then try to see if they could form the jury with jurors who have no objections to doing that case - so if the jury can be created, those on the stand by list will be released back into the jury pool. If not then the judge would then have to pick from those on the stand by list based on each juror's situation. 

Q: Are there people who will simply say yes to being a juror a complex case? 

You'll be amazed. Yes, there are people who would gladly do it and not complain about the length of the trial, but why? There are a whole bunch of reasons. If they are doing a job that they hate, then they can still be paid by their employer and come to court each day. Being on a jury isn't exactly fun work, but for some people, that might be more pleasant than what they have to do to earn a living (boy, they must have some really terrible jobs). Then there are the unemployed and retired people who have nothing to better to do and being on a jury actually gives them a sense of purpose, a role to fulfil and for them, they get something out of that experience which they can't find otherwise in their everyday lives. Then there are some people who have very boring lives - they have mundane jobs with no fun, no adventure, nothing to look forward to  in their vapid, joyless lives and being placed on the jury on a complex case might be the most exciting thing they have ever done. Some people really wield no power at all in real life - they are poor and working class, so being on a jury is actually a brand new experience in deciding the fate of a person on trial and in that context, they find wielding that power something quite thrilling. Then I have been told that there are some people who genuinely love courtroom drama and would compare being on a jury like being in one of the law dramas they watch for entertainment, so being asked to be on a jury is literally a dream come true for them and they really enjoy the whole process very much. So for a whole range of reasons, there will be some people who will gladly volunteer for a complex trial that may take up to six months. The judges will rather have a jury composed of people like that rather than those who really do not want to do it. 

Q: But I have been told I have no choice in the matter. 

Be careful whom you've spoken to as I was told the same by some people who didn't know what the hell they were talking about. The devil is in the detail. The rules are very clear about jury duty and whilst you must serve, if you do have a situation like mine (I am a self-employed sole trader), then you would not be expected to serve more than two weeks. The judges are sympathetic and reasonable people - the whole point of the jury is to create a fair way to administer justice, it is not to punish those who have been randomly selected for jury duty by committing them to a long case against their will. The fact is there will often be enough willing jurors to serve on these longer cases, so those who really don't want to do it can get away with it despite not really having a good reason. The judge would pick those who are happy to serve rather than force an unwilling party to do it. Having experienced jury duty, I do trust the system. This is a random process, so how much wriggle room you have depends on how many willing volunteers there are in your group of jurors. 

Q: I am self-employed, would I get a judge who will say, "if you're your own boss, then you can be flexible with your own work schedule. You can come to court in the day, then work at night and work weekends." Then what?

No. That simply will not happen. You are expected to be awake and alert during the trial as the jury has a very important function, if you have had very little or no sleep because you're forced to work all night then that would affect your ability to function effectively on the jury. Employers are not allowed to make their employees do that and work the night shift whilst on jury duty. Like I said earlier, the juror is not on trial - the judge is not there to punish someone who has been randomly selected to do jury duty for crying out aloud. The judge would instead pick someone who is quite happy to commit to the whole period of the trial or at least someone who is able to leave their job for the period of the trial and still be able to return to it after the trial. My friend Ken works for a university and had to do jury duty - the university would still be there after the trial and he would be able to go back to his job after the trial was over. Whilst he was on jury duty, the university was able to deploy other members of staff to cover for him in his absence. So someone like Ken is not in the same position as a self employed person who doesn't have that luxury and the judges are very reasonable and understanding. 

Q: What will happen on my first day of jury duty? 

Expect a lot of queueing and waiting when you first arrive - there is strict security at the courthouse when you arrive, all jurors have to go through metal detectors and have their belongings placed in an X-ray machine like at an airport. When a big batch of jurors arrive all at the same time, you can expect to queue for up to an hour - I have heard from the security staff at the courthouse that this is completely normal and sometimes the queues can last for two or even three hours. You ought to also check the weather forecast, so if it is going to rain, make sure you are dressed appropriately for the inclement weather and have an umbrella to queue in the pouring rain. Once you get in, you will need to register, they will check that all your details like your address and phone number are correct. They would then show you a video (which is on Youtube and I have embedded below) and give you a short briefing as part of the orientation - you will then have a chance to ask any questions you may have after that briefing is completed. There will be a number of forms to fill in as well so this could take a few hours to complete. It will be boring and tedious mostly just admin stuff. Make sure you bring something to pass the time like books to read and have chargers for your phone or tablet. There will be free Wifi for you. 

Q: How will I be assigned to a trial?

Once you have completed your orientation, you may be called to a trial. This may happen at once, or it may happen in a few days. When you are called, you will go in a large group - they only need 12 people for a jury, but they will bring you down in a big group. I didn't count how many people there were in my group but there were about 40 of us. You will go into the courtroom and it will get rather crowded given how massive the group is. The judge will then explain to you what is going to happen, basically the judge will give the group a brief outline of the case before listing the defendant, along with involved parties (victims, witnesses, police officers, ambulance service etc) and that is to make sure that none of those being selected for the jury may be connected to anyone in the case. If in the rare instance that you actually know someone involved, you'd be asked to prove it and explain how you know that person. In this case, you would be discharged from the case but not released from jury duty - you would simply return to the jury pool and await to be called again. After that, the judge will inform you how long the case is likely to take given the nature of the case. The judges are very experienced and will usually give you a reasonable window period like, "this case may take up to two weeks, but I am optimistic that we ought to be able to complete this in about ten days." If the trial is expected to last beyond two weeks, the judge will allow you to explain why that would pose a substantial challenge for you to do it and may excuse you. Then the court clerk will call you one by one to the front (the order you are called is random), you will then be asked to confirm whether you are happy to join the jury on the case or if you have good reason to ask to be excused. The judge will explain the criteria to be excused and not all excuses are accepted, but if you do have a valid reason within their rules, then it shouldn't be a problem. This process will keep going on until they have 12 people on the jury and the jury is complete at that point. The jurors would then be sworn in and that concludes the jury selection. If there are 40 in the group and the first 12 accept to be on that jury, then the other 28 will leave the court room at that point and be returned to the jury pool. There will be a good chance your name wouldn't even be called during this process at all, it is that random.

Q: If I am excused from a particular trial or if I am not selected, does that signal the end of my jury duty? 

No. You will simply be returned to the jury pool and you will be kept there for up to two weeks until they are totally sure that you will no longer be needed. It is rare that a juror is actually kept in the jury pool for a full two weeks though - either you are placed on a trial pretty quickly or you will get released from jury duty when it is clear they no longer need you. Your jury duty would always start on a Monday, they will usually receive a new batch of jurors every Monday so if you've been sitting around for a whole week and not been placed in a jury yet, then chances are you would be released when the new batch arrives. Of course, nothing is guaranteed and it all depends on how many new jurors are scheduled to arrive and how many more new cases are expected to begin in that court that week. Again, a lot of this is random and very hard to predict. You will receive your jury duty summon up to six weeks in advance of starting your jury duty and the court staff simply cannot predict how many jurors they will require that far in advance, the system can only ensure that there is always a constant supply of new jurors for new cases whether or not there is a demand for them by the courts. So if you are very lucky, then you could be released if the demand during your jury duty period is already met. There are so many moving parts and factors that are totally out of our control, thus a lot of the outcome will just come down to luck. 

Q: Will I be compensated for my time when I do jury duty? 

You will receive a very small amount of money like an allowance for your daily expenses and you could also apply to be compensated for your loss of earnings - I refer you to the official website for more details on the financial compensation. 

Q: What kind of people do jury duty? Do they want to pick a certain profile of juror for the case? 

You will meet all kinds of people on jury duty given that the selection is totally random. There are people of different social classes, different religions, different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. You will inevitably meet people you would never cross paths with in your own life and you might not like that aspect of it. Some of them will be older but there are also young people in the jury pool too. For example, I came across a lot of working class people in the jury pool and I did think, yeah you and I would never even be in the same room at the same time outside this specific context of jury duty. You may be placed on a jury with people you have little or nothing in common with - just remember that you are there to do a job, not to make friends with everyone and it is okay to feel a little uneasy about interacting with people you are not familiar with. The whole point of a jury is that it does represent society at large so the defendant is trialled by a jury of their peers, hence they are never going to use a certain criteria like pick 'more educated' people specifically for jury duty.

Q: Will there be any food and drink provided? 

No, nothing is provided. You will receive a stipend for food and drink but it is not very generous at all. Most people will bring something from home. Otherwise there is usually a canteen at the court though the quality of the canteen is usually pretty dire. There will be lunch breaks everyday, when you can leave the courthouse to get a much tastier lunch outside.

Q: What if I fall sick during jury duty? 

You have to call in sick and inform the duty jury manager once it is evident you are too sick to attend. You would not be expected to attend court if you are desperately ill. You would be expected to show proof from a doctor that you were genuinely sick on that day. On shorter trials, this would be very disruptive to the process but on longer trials, it is almost inevitable that somebody would fall sick at some stage - the courts have dealt with this situation before but I can't predict what their decision would be, as a lot of it would depend on the specific case, the judges and the severity of your illness. 

Q: I have an important appointment coming up, can I be excused from jury duty for just an afternoon?

No. If you knew that you had an important appointment coming up that you just can't miss, then you have the option of postponing your jury duty until after that appointment. Once you start your jury duty, you have to be totally committed to that process - the only exceptions would be medical emergencies or a sudden death in the immediate family, but otherwise, you're simply not allowed to take time off, not at all. I know that seems harsh but like I said earlier, tough shit. 

Q: How long is the lunch break? 

It is minimum an hour during a trial. If you are just waiting around in the jury pool, they may release you early for lunch and you could get a lunch break of about two hours; do NOT return to the court late as you could get into trouble for that! 

Q: How long is the day? 

Your first day is likely to start early at 8:30 am as there is a lot of admin, but most courts start at 10 am or 10:30 am so your following days would start 15 minutes before the court session begins. So if your court session commences at 10 am, then you would be expected to get to court at 9:45 am. If you're in court, then the court proceedings will cease by 5 pm. But if you're just waiting in the jury pool, they can let you go as early as 3 pm if you aren't needed anymore that day. 

Q: Is there a dress code for jury duty? 

No there isn't. But allow me to be a total bitch - I can understand if someone decides to turn up casually dressed under such circumstances, but I swear there was someone who looked like a homeless bum who hasn't taken a shower in a month. I am not exaggerating when I say he was dressed in rags - filthy rags. I walked past him and the stench was unbearable - I thought it was a ploy to present himself in such a disgusting state that the judge would say, "get that man out of my court now, I can't have him on the jury for this case." I don't know if that was his intention or if he was really like that everyday - perhaps that's just how he lives his life. I also don't know if a judge would actually disqualify a juror on that basis but I did wonder just how disgusting and revolting a juror would have to be before they get rejected by a judge? Anyone can get selected for jury duty, including some working class people who simply don't have formal clothes to wear to court and so there is no dress code to allow them to serve on the jury. I suppose it is to stop anyone from saying, "I don't have anything formal to wear to court so you have to exclude me from jury duty." Now you can wear anything you like, problem solved! Oh except when someone turns up literally looking like a homeless bum. But hey, as far as I could see, he wasn't excused from jury duty - if that was a cunning ploy to get out of jury duty, well it didn't work. 

Q: I know I can't dodge this but is there a way to ensure that I serve the shortest time possible? 

This is a story I have heard whilst doing my research for my own jury duty,  so take it with a pinch of salt. Josie (not her real name) didn't have a valid excuse to say no to being placed on a long trial but she really didn't want to give up six months of her life to be stuck on a jury. So the moment she got her summon, which was for jury duty to begin on the first week of March, she booked a dental appointment on the third week of March. Josie is an older woman who didn't have great teeth, but it was not like she was in desperate need of emergency treatment. So when she was asked to serve on a longer case, she told the judge that she would be glad to serve on a shorter trial, one that lasted two weeks or less but she had this dental appointment that she really didn't want to miss as she had all kinds of problems with her teeth and was intending to have a number of vital procedures done with the dentist. The judge was sympathetic and didn't want Josie to miss her dental appointment especially if it was going to cause her a lot of pain without those vital dental treatments. In the end, Josie got away with it on the basis of her dental appointment - if you are put on a jury, you can't take the morning off to go to the dentist. Josie created a medical situation when she could have easily gone to see the dentist before her jury duty started, but she deliberately timed it so that she could not be placed on a longer trial. Two key features of Josie's story is this: Josie had the good fortune of encountering a very sympathetic judge and secondly, there were others in her group to fill all 12 places on that jury so it really didn't make a difference in the end for the judge to excuse Josie. In fact, Josie confessed to me, "when I called up the clinic and asked for an appointment that far in advance, the receptionist said, why don't you come in tomorrow instead, we have a spot free in the morning, you don't have to wait till March to see the dentist. But I insisted on that March appointment and of course the court didn't have the time or inclination to double check if the dental clinic had offered me an appointment a lot sooner than March. It was a cynical ploy but it worked. We all have to see the dentist at some point anyway, so why not time it just right to be after that two week jury duty period?" In the end, Josie spent four days waiting it out in the jury pool before she was released. 

Q: Can you tell us more about what you did on jury duty, like what kind of criminals were on trial?

I'm afraid not - any details relating to the cases are totally confidential and it is a criminal offence to talk about them, even to my own family members. The whole purpose of writing this piece is simply to help others who have been selected for jury duty to become a bit more familiar with the process and know what to expect when they must perform their jury duty. 

Q: I have seen on TV how some juries have to stay in hotels and are not even allowed to go home after trial to go see their families, is that likely to happen for the serious cases like murder or is that just drama for TV shows? 

This is extremely rare and has only happened on a handful of occasions, it is called jury sequestration - it only happens in the most high profile trials and it is to prevent the jury from being influenced by what they see in the news and social media if it is a very high profile trial that is headline news all over the world. You have greater chance of being struck by lightning or winning the lottery than being in this situation. Normally, the judge will ask the jury to reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty - the verdict may or may not be unanimous but that's the judge's decision. If the jury cannot make up it's mind, they will usually just reconvene the next day as it costs a lot of money to put the entire jury up in a nice hotel in town! That's not good use of the taxpayers' money, so even if the trial concludes late in the afternoon and the jury needs some time to reach a final decision, in the vast majority of cases, the judge will simply say, "we'll continue tomorrow morning" rather than keep the jury overnight at a hotel near the court at great expense. This is because the justice system has a limited budget and what's going to stop the jury member from just walking out of the front door of the hotel to go home - oh you're going to need security staff then to watch them, can you see how absolutely stupid and ridiculous this whole thing sounds when you consider the practicalities of the situation? The judge will only go to such extreme measures in very high profile cases and those are very rare. We're talking about super high profile cases in America like OJ Simpson, Derek Chauvin and Bill Cosby. Even if you are put on the jury for a murder trial, jury sequestration is not a possibility unless the defendant is super famous. The judge may instruct a jury not to look at the news or social media when deliberating the verdict of the case and just trust the jury to do as they were told without resorting to sequestration. 

Q: What if I have more questions about my jury duty? 

Feel free to leave a question below and I'll try my best to see if I can answer your question(s), but I would also encourage you to get in touch with the jury summoning officer at the jury central summoning bureau as well as the court where you are going to serve your jury duty. The staff there are always very responsive and will be glad to answer any questions you have. It is really best to speak to someone who works within the system who has all the right information - speaking to your friends is not a wise thing to do as they may have the wrong information and will mislead you unintentionally. That has actually happened to me a lot in the last few weeks and that is one of the key reasons why I have written this article. 

Q: Okay, so what were some of the dumb things your friends told you? 

Where do I begin? One friend told me that I am not even allowed to tell anyone that I am on jury duty, that it was a criminal offence to tell your friends that you're on jury duty. She was totally wrong of course, she got confused - I am not allowed to discuss anything I have heard in court pertaining to an ongoing trial, but I am completely allowed to disclose to friends, colleagues and family members that I am on jury duty. One assumed that I would definitely be placed on a trial and my jury duty would only finish upon the completion of that case; again, that's false. Some people may not be selected to be on a jury during their jury duty period for a variety of reasons and they will simply be released from jury duty. Another friend assumed that I was chosen on the basis of my ethnicity - I'm British-Chinese, so he assumed that they needed Chinese jurors on the jury for a trial that may involve Chinese people or perhaps a Chinese company, thus I was handpicked because I speak Mandarin. Again, that's not true at all - I did see other Asian people whilst on jury duty, but we were selected randomly and our ethnicity played no part in the process. Then another friend thought that the judges would be really mean and nasty. I'm not sure why he had jumped to that conclusion, but really it was the complete opposite. The judges I had come across during my jury duty were polite, kind, reasonable, understanding and showed great empathy to the jurors who had given up their time to do jury duty. The judges are not trying to punish the jurors. Even all the other staff I have met from the security personnel to the court clerks to the jury managers have all been very helpful and understanding, I didn't meet a single mean or nasty member of staff, they were all very nice people. Oh and then there were other friends who assumed there was a matter of choice in saying no to jury duty - that's completely false as well, you really can't say no unless you actually fulfil certain very specific conditions and at best you can postpone it. They are naïve and simply didn't understand how the system works. Then finally, there are people who told me to pretend that I didn't speak English to get out of jury duty - that's just fraud. No. Don't even go there, it is much better to just work honestly within the system and try to find legitimate reasons to ask for your jury duty to be as short as possible. 

Q: What about if I want to get out of jury duty on the grounds of conscientious objection ?

This is means that your personal beliefs would prevent you from imposing certain kinds of serious punishment on individuals, so you would deliberately not find them guilty in order to spare them that punishment even if you did consider them guilty of the crime based on all the evidence presented in court. Again, this would depend on you making a case to the judge and the outcome would be based on how you convince the judge of your stance - there is no one size fits all answer to this question but a judge may just say, no I don't accept your argument and thus you have to serve on this jury regardless of your feelings and beliefs. However, if you look like you're going to be hard work for the court and there are other jurors who are willing to step into that role with less fuss, then you might be able to use this basis to get out of jury duty. But I would advice you against trying this, as citizens are expected to put their feelings aside and perform jury duty. 

Q: Do you have anything to complain about your experience? 

Well, there's this one minor detail that I really didn't like. On my jury summons letter, it felt like I was being summoned to court because I had done something wrong, rather than because I had been randomly selected to do jury duty. It was stern, serious and came with a warning that I must reply to the jury summon within 7 days of receiving it and if I didn't respond, I would be committing a criminal offence and would be punished. Then there was information about what jury duty was and what I was expected to do - at no stage was there any element of, "we realize this is hugely disruptive to your life, we understand how you might be feeling right now and we are so grateful for your service, thank you very much." None of that, I do think they could have softened the blow for anyone opening that letter! In the briefing video that I watched during my orientation, the presenter was polite - she apologized for the massive inconvenience caused by us performing our jury duty and thanked all jurors for their important service. There was none of that in the letter, it felt more like the kind of letter you'd send out to someone who had broken the law and now had to go to court to face the consequences. Look, I work in sales and marketing, I am a master when it comes to corporate communication and it costs you absolutely nothing to write this kind of letter in a far more appropriate tone and use a better choice of words to communicate with the recipient of this letter. Would it cost them anything more or confuse the reader if they included a simple sentence like, "we thank you for your participation in this important process of our justice system"? It doesn't cost you a penny to use the magic words "thank you". Once I started engaging with the people who worked in the system, I realized that every single person I dealt with was polite, reasonable and helpful - that was in stark contrast with the stern and unforgiving tone of the jury summons I had received and how I was made to feel upon reading that letter for the first time. You could argue that the jury summons had to be that stern and serious to make the recipients realize that they have to take this very seriously and respond urgently regardless of their current personal circumstances but you could do that and still be polite enough at the same time - therefore this is definitely one area of the process that can be improved.

So that's it from me, I could go on but this article is already long enough as it is. Have you done jury duty before? Did I dispel some of the myths that you have heard about jury duty before? Why do people who know little or nothing about jury duty insist on opening their big mouths and saying such stupid things rather than simply admitting that they don't know anything about the subject? Please leave a comment below, let me know what you think. Many thanks for reading.