Why not me or my family?

I did it once. It was a very serious and responsible job and I did not try to get out of it, despite my employer’s objections, the long 2 buses journey and leaving alone my 4 teenagers and a newborn orphaned puppy.
It was a horrible case, multiple rape of young girl and we jurors were threatened in the near-riot afterwards.

I always wanted to be called for jury service . I love anything to do with law etc. But never have been called and never will, now I'm over 70.

I loved doing jury service - have been called twice. I have several friends who have never been called.

My daughter is about to serve for the third time

I did two jury duties. From my seat in the jury box , in my loud clear voice I had to ask the official to get a lawyer to speak up as he was an awful mumbler. The official was not paying attention and the judge had to ask the official to pay attention to my request. It was a very boring case to do with people getting lifts on a lorry which was not suited to people- carrying.

It is an illusion that how you dress decides whether you are called or not. They just come into the jurors waiting room and read names off a pre-printed list. They do not know who you are until you identify yourself.

For those who long to be jurors, be careful what you wish for. I found myself on a rather odd historic sex abuse case. The offence only just crossed the barrier of being an offence, it only happened once and despite the offender living in the same village all his life and considerable police trawling no evidence could be found of any other offence. Yet it was in court 25 years later. No doubts about his guilt and he was convicted, but it was actually a very troubling case and bothers me to this day.

Several posters have mentioned the cut off age as 70. I'm sure I read somewhere that it has been raised to 75. Am I right?

Like Blinko's Father, I had been advised to turn up in best business suit with severe hair up and it worked - I was rejected as a juror twice.

I have always dreaded being called for lots of reasons and because of this thread I have found out that as I am 70 I will never be called!!
Thank you Nonnie!!

ReadyMeals. Why? What has the culture of a person to do with the British legal system?

I am not British by culture and I feel strongly that if I choose to live in another culture I have to accept their laws AND customs. Violence towards wife and children may be acceptable in my culture but why should a British court system “understand” and be lenient? Law is law.

I would love to be called to sit on a jury as well. I took a short course in legal studies when I was in high school and found it quite fascinating.

Currently we live in Canada but are considering moving to the UK (Hubby is a British ex-pat). If we do move, I would like to consider becoming a volunteer magistrate. We do not have a magistrate's court in Canada so it is not something I can do here. (Canadian law is largely based on English common law, with the exception of Quebec which uses the Napoleonic code, but the courts are set up slightly differently.)

I would love to have the experience of sitting on a jury but only have 4 years left ( I think the cut off age is 70). My daughter got called and said she hoped she didn't get a rape case; she did! Also, my ex-husband got called but got out of it because he was away on business.

It is random but I believe you may be excused for various reasons eg you are in the police service, you may have some link relative to the actual crime the defendant is being tried for.

I am the only one in my family to have done Jury Service, & that was about 25 years ago. I found it very interesting. Would love to do it again, but regretfully too old now.!

I'm in Scotland, and have been called three times but never had to actually sit. My (late) older brother was also called three times and was picked on the third occasion. It was a serious assault case, he said afterwards the photos and the evidence was horrible to listen to, and he was really upset for quite a while after it. I have a friend who has also been called three times as have both her adult sons, yet her husband has never been called once.

As said by others, it's random. I've been called 3 times, despite working in a section of the criminal justice system, which meant I was disqualified from servicing. Just as well as for part of my job I used to have to attend the local magistrates court each day, desperately having to try and stay awake each day due to the tedium!

While I've never been called, (and will be too old after 2020) both DS & DiL in USA have been called more than once. (It seems to me that there, people seem to wish to avoid jury duty, as much as possible, because it's seen as onerous and a liability.......)

Been called three times, all for different courts. First only one case, second cancelled due to no cases and third at the old bailey and boss said I couldn’t be released as a particular job couldn’t be done by anyone else as colleague was on maternity leave. I find jury service very interesting.

DS1 was called when he was two years old! We said he was willing to attend but only if there was someone who could provide suitable food and change his nappy....

Other than that, DH has done it and so did my father. That was at the Old Bailey. As an ex army man, Dad turned up looking very smart with the regimental crest on his blazer and the regimental tie.

He clearly had very little in common with any of the motley defendants, as he was constantly turned down by the defence counsels.

So he never actually sat on a jury, but did plenty of waiting about at the Old Bailey.

Neither myself, DH or any family members have ever been called. If DH or I had been called during our working life we would have had to disclose a 'bias' in relation to our employment! We would have undoubtedly known the 'accused' and family members -we were on the right side of the law I hasten to add!!

My sister has been called twice, years apart. She’s the only one

I was exempt while working and was called soon after I retired, I had to be excused as I was caring for sick husband. I was quite disappointed actually.

I was called once, over 30 years ago on a murder trial, I was going to be selected on a shop-lifting case first but apparently the defendant knew me so I was challenged and replaced. It was enlightening to see how others made their decisions and on something so serious, I vividly remember one young woman who felt so sorry for the defendants family if he was sent down. As far as I know, I'm the only one in my family that has been called for service.

I was called at 18 and dh at 50! I really hope my kids will get the call it’s truly fasinating.

I always thought that being selected was random - a bit like ERNIE. I've always rather dreaded it in case it was very distressing.
My dad was called many years ago and a colleague.