Justice committee  The view here is exactly the same. It raises the issue of the importance of court staff during a trial. Yes, the judge is important, but it is usually the ushers and the jury managers who are the ones who spot the people having difficulties and can help them through the process a

Justice committee  There is no special contract between the Samaritans and government because Samaritans are available, as I said, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for anyone to call, for any reason. In effect, they agreed to partner with the court service to make that information available for jur

Justice committee  No, it doesn't cover it from a purely legal point of view. What I'm saying, though, is that the practicalities of pursuing that here is not the main source of concern. The main source of concern here has been that jurors actually understand what their legal responsibilities are a

Justice committee  Yes, that has been discussed to some extent here. We have exactly the same rule prohibiting revelation of anything that was said or done in the jury deliberating room. In relation to counselling, the approach here is that there's confidentiality between therapist and patient. T

Justice committee  That's a really interesting issue. Within the U.K. there is a perception that the Samaritans are the people you call if you're feeling suicidal. Over the years, brochures for jurors were put in the jury lounges that said that if you want to talk to someone, call the Samaritans. I

Justice committee  I think that's a very good idea. What we've found from research in relation to the juror notice is that if it is simply left in the jury lounge, it is not half as effective. The point is that it is given to only jurors who are sworn onto a jury and, in effect, given to those indi

Justice committee  I think that's probably more of a myth than a reality these days in England and Wales. We have a very diverse population. I wouldn't say that the population doing jury service is necessarily the classic, “stiff upper lip” British member of the public. Jurors are increasingly requ

Justice committee  Can I first of all let you know that I've just been informed that my connection is going to end at 10 o'clock my time? If I disappear in about an hour's time, that's why. My research was primarily to test the effectiveness of this new juror notice, but also, in the course of th

Justice committee  Yes, of course. That's a very important point. I didn't mean to imply that there should be no excusals for jury service. We do have grounds for excusal if you're summoned and you have a legitimate reason. That includes medical reasons for why it would be difficult for you to serv

Justice committee  Yes, it's made a dramatic difference in jurors' understanding of their legal responsibilities. In this country, Parliament recently enacted a statute criminalizing a number of jury activities. In the past, there were common law rules that would make various actions by jurors a

Justice committee  I can hear you fine. Thank you.

Justice committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the committee for the invitation to provide evidence today about my research on the impact of jury service on members of the public. In these opening remarks, I'll provide the committee with some background on the perception of the issue in England a