Furlough workers as jury members

As a significant number of people are now on furlough, they could be called upon as potential jurors. The furlough scheme is until the end of June so this could allow some trials to run during this time. This depends on trials moving online and for jurors having internet and equipment access but I note that yesterday at the lunchtime Scottish Government briefing it was announced that notepads and internet access is being given to this most in need. There is an existing robust process for jury selection so could this be adapted to online trials?

Why the contribution is important

This would allow trials to take place and help with a growing backlog. This may be more useful for Sheriff Court trials than High Court, the latter may last longer than the furlough scheme.

by Joycie on May 08, 2020 at 07:55AM

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Comments

  • Posted by CarrieFortune May 09, 2020 at 11:29

    Disagree. This would be limiting the jury available to a section of population and goes against the whole point of randomly presenting people for jury selection to ensure a fair balanced cross section of society. Many furloughed workers are from retail, restaurant and bar industry. Many are also low paid and relatively low educated. We could not use those furloughed due to health condition as this would put them at risk unless it was lived on line which is also not ideal for a court case.
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