(2) how many people have been summoned for jury service (a) nationally and (b) in each London borough in each of the last 10 years;
(3) how many people summoned for jury service were disqualified for each reason (a) nationally and (b) in each London borough in each of the last 10 years;
(4) how many people have been summoned for jury service (a) once, (b) twice, (c) three and (d) four times (i) nationally and (ii) in each London borough in each of the last 10 years;
(5) how many people of those summoned have declined to carry out their jury service for each reason (a) nationally and (b) in each London borough in each of the last 10 years.
The following table shows, on a national level basis for each calendar year from 2000 to 2008, the following:
(a) how many people have been required for jury service
(b) how many people have been supplied to the court for jury service
(c) how many people have been deferred from the original date they were summoned for jury service
(d) how many people have been excused from jury service
(e) how many people have been disqualified from jury service.
Information for each London borough is not held centrally as the data cannot be extracted in this way by the computer system.
The Ministry of Justice are also unable to provide information on how many people have been summoned for jury service more than once. This is because jurors are selected on a completely random basis using the electoral voting registers supplied annually by each local authority. As the electoral registers are updated annually and due to the randomness of jury selection there is potential for some members of the public to be called for jury service more than once while some may never be called.
Members of the public summoned for jury service cannot decline to carry out jury service. However, a juror can apply to defer their jury service to a more suitable date within the forthcoming 12-month period if the original date is not convenient. Jurors can apply to be excused from jury service but their application must show good cause why they should be excused from attending.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total number of summons issues 79,115 579,473 492,561 461,980 431,432 388,154 390,671 412,666 416,689 Total number of jurors supplied to the court 24,907 187,080 197,599 184,833 187,114 185,193 181,966 182,661 183,506 Deferred to serve at a later date 8,860 61,435 59,786 59,528 65,754 63,741 61,254 66,174 66,806 Number refused deferral 22 214 297 340 288 286 172 122 103 Excused by right having served in past two years 4,700 32,368 29,120 28,247 14,887 4,333 4,277 4,518 4,244 child care 3,410 27,685 26,281 24,327 19,497 15,741 15,690 16,118 15,711 work commitments 2,781 26,640 25,628 19,373 14,961 14,419 15,998 16,428 16,857 medical 5,650 44,435 40,982 35,061 34,016 32,239 30,332 32,416 31,289 travel difficulties 186 2,394 1,811 1,110 813 672 720 651 690 student 736 5,468 5,899 3,979 2,438 2,150 2,209 2,273 2,429 moved from area 1,549 11,073 6,254 3,419 2,498 2,181 2,454 2,988 2,543 language difficulties 849 5,921 5,928 5,260 4,975 4,081 4,030 4,406 4,165 other 2,521 20,678 22,354 22,400 23,103 21,658 24,126 27,784 30,606 All excused 22,382 176,662 164,257 143,176 117,188 97,474 99,836 107,582 108,534 Number refused excusal 421 2,494 1,927 3,453 4,344 3,585 2,053 1,641 1,515 Disqualified—residency, mental disorders, criminality 15,248 118,339 105,314 98,045 89,112 77,364 85,061 94,171 96,325 Disqualified—on selection 5,989 48,271 59,892 58,830 55,410 49,765 53,031 58,900 59,017 Disqualified—failed Police National Computer (PNC) check 0 69 160 139 148 193 185 207 225