Uk Jury Duty

Just curious.

Does anyone know anyone who has had to do jury duty in the UK?

I moved to the UK when I was 38, and before then I had been called for US jury duty 3 or 4 times. I also got a US jury duty summons, which was sent to my parents' home, just after I moved to the UK; my mother told them that I was no longer resident in the US.

My family members have also been summoned for jury duty quite a few times.

DH is 40 years old and his lived in the UK all his life. He has never been called for jury duty and has never known anyone who has been summoned for jury duty.

DH is on the electoral roll, has a driving licence and pays taxes.

I don't know if DH's situtation is unusual, or if Americans are just more likely to be called for jury duty.

I kind of assumed that I would get called for UK jury duty once I had been a UK citizen for several years, but I guess maybe not?

From what I've heard it is more common to be called up for jury duty in the US than in the UK.

I was called up for UK jury duty this time last year (first time ever) and I am the only person I know of out of all my friends and family who has ever been called up for it (I actually thought I was ineligible because I have a DUI on my record, but apparently not)! I only personally know one other person who has had to do UK jury duty (apart from the people who were called up at the same time as me, of course), which was one of my old work colleagues a couple of years ago.

HIya
I've done jury duty both in Massachusetts and then was called up for Jury duty here in Scotland a few years ago. I know lots of scots that have never been called up and they thought it was pretty funny that I had.  I guess its one of those things that just doesn't make sense. never know who will be called up.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the length of time you spend on jury duty - in the UK, the average jury duty lasts for 2 weeks, so if your case is closed quickly, then you go back into the pool for another case. However, looking at some of the US jury duty websites, it looks like a lot of people complete their jury service in just one day... which could mean that they call up many more people per year to do it than in the UK.

Just looked around for some stats:
In the UK about 480,000 people are called up per year (about 0.8% of the population), but it looks like in the US, around 500,000 people per state are called up each year, so that's about 25 million people per year (8% of the population) (I can't find any exact statistics for the US though) - so that's 10 times the number of people called up in the US than in the UK.

My husband says the UK doesn't use grand juries.  So maybe that is it?

It probably depends quite a bit on where you live.  I grew up in a small town, and the only person I ever knew in our family who was called for jury duty was my grandma.  She's been called several times, but no one else ever has.  I imagine it's a similar situation here.

UK doesn't have grand jury but it does have trial juries.  I think it is much  more common to be summoned for trial jury then grand jury. I was on a grand jury once. All of my other jury duty summons were for trial jury.None of my family members have been called for grand jury, just trial jury. It's easier to get jurors for a grand jury because the burden of proof is very low and the jurors don't have to decide if the defendant is innocent or guilty.

Well I was just offering it up a reason why the overall numbers in the US are higher. 

Both my husband's parents have been called for jury duty in the UK.

I wonder if it could have to do with the US having more civil cases.  I don't have statistics for this; just thinking of the reputation Americans have for being lawsuit-happy.

Or could it be that potential jurors are challenged more in the US than in the UK, so you need a larger panel of potential jurors before you get down to the 12 (plus alternates) who actually hear the case?

One of my brothers was called up years ago....that's the only person I know of. I'd love to do it.

I would have to agree with sweetpeach, the US is lawsuit happy.  If someone does not like the way you look at them they will find a way to file a frivolous lawsuit against you and the sad part is your lawyer will tell you to settle because it will cost too much to go to court.   

I have been in the US for 20 years and I get called up for jury duty every six months, everytime this happens i call them to tell them i am a British Citizen and they tell me to copy my passport photo page and mail it to them as proof.  I get called so much because i keep being excused because of citizenship.  When i asked why they keep using tax dollars to print, send me this and spend my money to photocopy and mail back to them,  they said it was easier to do this than spend money to make the systems more intelligent.

In the UK, juries only sit in criminal cases at Crown Courts - and possibly libel cases (which are very rare in any event). 

One of the consequences of this is the low level of damage awards in civil courts

In the UK, juries only sit in criminal cases at Crown Courts - and possibly libel cases (which are very rare in any event). 

One of the consequences of this is the low level of damage awards in civil courts

That's very interesting.  Except for my stint on grand jury, I have only ever been called for jury duty in Civil Court. (I think that may be because I've worked for criminal court, so I knew too much  ).

Usually people in car accidents suing each other.

My family members have been called up for jury duty for criminal court, though.

DS has been called for jury duty in the US about every other year (but never impanelled). DD was called 2 or 3 times and I had to tell them she was living abroad. I was called once (for US) when I was living in UK -- but never since I've moved back! I know someone who was excused on grounds of being heavily pregnant (30 years ago) and never called again, so we wondered if once you're excused they sort of forget about you.
DH has been called for jury duty twice in the UK.

one of the major things causing the discrepancy may be that jury selection processes are very different.  from this page it looks like in the UK jury selection is a matter of 12 people out of 15 called being randomly selected by the clerk of the court, whereas from what I have seen in the US, a much larger pool of jurors is called, and then the prosecution and defense exclude people until a jury is decided upon.

That would seem to indicate that for the same amount of court activity a lot more people get called for jury duty in the US.