What I learnt from Jury Duty - Part 3.

Friday, 11 June 2021

6. You don’t need to remember everything. Or maybe even anything.

At the end of the case, the prosecution summed up everything. This went for so long that they then summed up their summing up.  Then the defence counsel summed up their case. Then the judge summed up the law as it applied in this case, and then summed up all the evidence that was presented. THEN we went into the deliberation room where we were provided with all the video evidence (on dvd of course - not usb)  and all the transcripts from the other witnesses.  So really, I could have just turned up for this block of 3 hours !  No - I’m just joking, there was actually a lot gained from seeing the witnesses in person.

7. Is this even legal?

When we do an escape room, it’s emphasised to us that we are not actually locked in.  Down at the supreme court they are a bit more free and easy with the whole deprivation of liberty thing and you ARE actually locked in. Really! We couldn’t get out and not only that but there were two heavy doors (one after the other) on each of the two exits. So we were 4 doors away from being heard in case of a fire. We just have to hope the person assigned to look after us remembers us when the court goes up in flames. It was only on the very last day that we were shown that there was a buzzer to attract attention once we had reached a verdict. Maybe they didn't trust us with that knowledge earlier.

8. Sometimes courtroom drama really is like a tv courtroom drama. 

Even through it was often hours or even a day since we’d last been in court, the case started up again as soon as we sat down in our jury chairs with out any pre-amble or welcomes, or ‘this is what we are doing todays’. It was like we turned the TV back on at the exact moment the episode recap was over and the new episode began. It was a bit weird.

9. It's probably worth it.

Even though it's a pain, and inconvenient, and unpredictable,  my overwhelming feeling is that it’s worth doing jury duty.  Even if the case is a bit lame (like my first one) it's really interesting seeing how it all works. I guess the exception would be any sort of case that is so distressing it has lasting effects on your mental health, or one that runs really really long.