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I’d previously written about my experiences with being cited for Jury Service here in Glasgow. I’m pleased to say that my duties have been absolved, and I wasn’t in the end required to actually sit on a Jury, although I did need to attend for selection.

Somewhat in contrast to my rather gloomy feelings about how the process “felt” in the lead up, on the day itself it all went rather smoothly, and I felt that the staff at the High Court in Glasgow were very understanding, polite, helpful and informative. After a wait in the restaurant, where not much was said by anybody, we were called and led through a maze of corridors to a waiting room, where we were then addressed and the process explained to us. We were checked off the list, and then addressed by one of the court officials.

I’m not going to go into details of the case, but I’d already discovered that it wouldn’t last more than a week (We’d have been written to in advance if that had been the case). Whilst the case was described in somewhat flippant terms, the details of the charges when read out in court sounded somewhat more severe, and not particularly pleasant.

We were called into the court, and sat in the public area. On arrival of the judge (and his impressive looking mace), 15 numbers were drawn from a glass bowl, and that constituted the selection process. No rejections took place. My number didn’t come up, but the numbers on either side did, so I rather felt I’d escaped by something of a whisker! We had to hang about in case those selected discovered some reason they couldn’t serve, but it was pretty much over after that. We were eventually advised we weren’t required again, and didn’t need to phone in at all.

A few observations of the process I observed before being relieved…

The policeman at the back of the court didn’t sound very amused at having to tell some in the public gallary to stand on the entrance/exit of the judge. It’s a slightly strange experience, but it signifies a respect for the judicial system. A judge is an important individual - but represents a great deal more - so that people didn’t think it necessary to stand seemed strange.

Getting dressed up in a fancy suit, and carrying a briefcase didn’t make any difference to one or two in the selected jurors. There seems to be an urban myth floating about (it was certainly suggested to me) that you’re guaranteed a rejection, but a jury is supposed to be random and balanced. Posh looking suits won’t make much of a difference. I just dressed up in what you might call “smart casual”, but others were even in jeans and t-shirt.

Affirmations are a minority activity. Before the selection process, we were asked to let the court clerk know if we wanted to afirm, rather than swear an oath to invisible sky pixies. Just a few of us raised our hands, and one of us was picked. He got to do it on his own, so atheists be brave!

The range of citation numbers was about 60, but by my estimation there were just over 30 jurors in the room. So a 1 in 2 chance of being selected for a 15 person jury, rather than the 1 in 4 I’d estimated. Perhaps cited jurors had lots of good excuses, or the numbers were just ‘filler’, or a lot of absconding occurred, but I was taken aback by the relatively small number. We were advised we may be needed again, due to a juror shortage elsewhere, so it seems it could be widespread. No wonder there’s only one person from Frances’ family who’s not been cited.

In the end, I’m glad I didn’t serve, but I’m still curious about the experience. I will, I understand, be eligible for citation in 5 years time. Whilst the impersonal process in the lead up to the actual requirement to attend court didn’t impress me at all, the experience on the day was interesting and intriguing. But do remember to take something to read. There’s a lot of waiting.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Glasgow, Scotland, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.