I have been summoned....

I had a juicy GBH case lasting a week.

I've never been called and always hoped I would be. If I were to be called now, however, I would have to apply to be excused on medical grounds
Nobody in my family has ever done jury service as far as I'm aware - none of my siblings, nor their partners, certainly not my DH or DC.
My father was called once but was excused on the grounds that he was was self-employed, running his own business (a shop) single-handedly, and the business would suffer.

I was called for jury service in the London area in 1987 but we had just moved north to Cheshire when I got the letter.

I would be interested in doing it but I am afraid I would be nodding off after lunch.

It depends on the case; some could be really boring, others interesting and others quite distressing.
However, it would require intense concentration and attention to detail. I was exempt (perhaps not now) but I always thought it would be very interesting.

Someone I know was called twice in a number of year. Both times she found herself listening to horrific details of rape cases. In one she and one other believed the man to be guilty but it went not guilty. The other folded fairly quickly on a technicality. Nothing enjoyable or exciting about those experiences.

We are not allowed to discuss the jury deliberations at all apparently, but that being the case I can only say that this quote below from a 'jury service' thread on another website rings very true to my own experience:

'One bloke insisted he couldn't make a decision because the evidence was 'too ambidextrous' (despite a mass of clear & consistent objective evidence) and he was one of the cleverer ones.'

Week one was an exercise in frustration for me and I came away feeling very disheartened. Week two began today and I've been stood down until Wednesday when I may, or may not, be called for a second trial.

I have never been called but have been a witness in court twice. Once on a child protection case in the family court when it was my job and once as a witness for myself when my ex husband assaulted me and I had him charged. Both cases meant I was cross examined for over an hour by a barrister. I think I'd rather do jury service

I did jury service at The Old Bailey in 1982 - it was very interesting although a bit alarming to find myself, along with the other jurors, sitting at the next table to the relatives of the violent accused in the canteen!

I believe arrangements are a bit different now.

Absolutely Riverwalk - jurists are completely sequestered and not permitted even to use the same toilets as other folk in the court building. We have our own cafe and even a telephone service to the Costa coffee franchise in the building - waiting staff go and collect our orders. There are many warnings and much finger wagging from the (very efficient and professional) jury bailiffs - who advise that jurors and defendants even being in the same coffee queue or smoking area has caused trials to be abandoned. Actually I should have said that I was very, very impressed with the people employed to take care of us jurors - they did an excellent job with a very large and motley group of us.

I have been called once and was lucky to be on two cases, the first lasted one week and broke history with the first use of DNA on birds of prey proving the eggs had been stolen and were not captive bred, very interesting.
The second case was a northern gangland case with guns and the whole lot, very scary and lasted 2 weeks.

I was very lucky some of the Jurors just sat waiting to be called for two weeks and never left the refectory.

I would have quite liked to have sat in the refectory. Did they sell cake?

All sorts jingle

Would do me then.

it's fine being separated in the waiting rooms but once you leave and are going home on public transport there is no separation .... I found myself sitting opposite one of the witnesses on the long tube journey home.

I've never been called, and probably never will be now (out of the country.)
But I think it's an excellent system: to be "tried " by your peers, from any class, with varied understanding of the legal system, just a cross section of society (except I think you have to be a property owner.)
As near democratic as you're going to get.

No need to be a property owner TriciaF - just on the electoral role.

I must admit that until this week I always assumed the jury process to be a good model, but I have to say I no longer think that. In fact I now believe it's a very flawed system, but without saying what went on during the deliberations I took part in (which I'm not allowed to do), I can't tell you why. One thing that would improve things immensely would be to have an independent 'jury observer' to sit in on the jury's deliberations. That person could provide general feedback to the courts for training purposes and, if necessary, ensure that a fair/just/impartial process is observed throughout the jury's discussions. As a juror there is no way of giving any feedback and without it there can be no way to inform further juror's training.

Never have and hope that I never will. As a freelancer I would lose serious money being unable to work and being unable to tell my clients when I might be back .. ridiculous system !!!

I did it about 20 years ago. A man was accused of sexually assaulting his step daughter. There was no real evidence, just her word against his and the cynical among us rather suspected that her mother had put her up to it because the man was getting married again. We also had several members who couldn't tell the difference between gut feeling and evidence. The foreman prayed everytime we sat down to discuss it and wanted us to give a guilty verdict "Because he must have done something at sometime" In the end we found him not guilty on two counts and couldn't reach a verdict on the others. I was a bit shocked to find that they were going for a retrial - if they didn't find some new evidence I couldn't see that the result would be any different and it seemed an awful waste of money.

Good one. risk

I've done it twice, and, like Grannyknot, was amazed by the attitude of a lot of jurors. Lots of attitudes of " he must've done it, or the police wouldn't have arrested him", " look at the state of his clothes", and " the cops are all liars".