I think amending and improving the discharge process is necessary. I can only speak to the one in Ontario, the one that I experienced myself, which was a non-discharge. Aside from sharing a cup of tea with the justice, we left the courthouse really abruptly. I was shocked that there wasn't any formal debrief. As I was delivering the verdict in court and getting ready to exit, I was expecting there to be a very structured, judicial-type discharge, something very formal about what's expected of a juror: you've been a juror; this is what is expected of you if you're contacted by the media, or if somebody asks you about the case, or any of those things. There's nothing.
To your question about a post-trial follow-up or some sort of interview with each of the jurors, I think giving them access to and an understanding of what's expected of them once they've gone through a decompression period would help a great deal. Again, having a program or someone to talk to when you need it, at no expense, and taking some of that burden away would be incredibly valuable.
Pre-trial you don't have that opportunity. I think that's part of why the system is as it is. It's that you don't want to opinionate a juror by saying that a trial will contain graphic evidence and will contain subject matter that is going to be deeply disturbing, because we don't want jurors to be prejudiced and form an opinion of or an emotional response to the evidence they're going to see. The evidence has to speak for itself, and the trial has to unravel as it will. That's the burden of the juror. That's just part of the job. I think that's not going to go away, and I don't expect that we can change that.