Calling up more young adults for jury duty may help to suspend the sentence of unemployment caused by the Coronavirus. Across the UK, hundreds of thousands of young adults are desperately searching for a job. Whether fresh out of college or university, made redundant or furloughed, scores of applications are being completed everyday.
Covid-19 has devastated the usual chances of kick-starting budding careers for most young people in the UK. These individuals are now consigned to a never-ending cycle of sending applications and attending virtual interviews (if they’re lucky). But ultimately, rejection, is a constant for the youth of society today: for every handful of roles in any singular company or organisation, there are hundreds of applications.
Yet, there still exists a pressure to at least obtain qualifications, voluntary work, or work experience to ensure CVs and cover letters stand out from the rest when applying for a more permanent position. An application may not fare well if the candidate has not worked at all for a year – or two.
But what if there were a ‘placement’ that these young adults could undertake? Something lasting approximately 10 to 30 days, expenses paid, and requiring no prior experience. Something that would ultimately equip them with skills in teamwork, organisation, leadership, and decision-making.
Jury Duty is the Way Forward
Jury duty could potentially serve (pardon the pun) young people who are struggling to find a job. This would provide a unique opportunity in the interim of securing employment that could boost CVs significantly. After all, only 35% of people are called for jury service throughout both England and Wales per year.
Around 347,000 jurors summons were issued in 2019, however, a lack of specific data makes it difficult to know what proportion of those who served were young adults between 18-25.
“the idea could be more pragmatic than initially imagined”
Whilst it is only the Jury Central Summoning Bureau (JCSB), a computer that randomly generates names of eligible people for jury service and is therefore not a ‘job’ for which to apply, as a result of Covid-19, perhaps a scheme could be rolled out to offer adults between the ages of 18-25 the chance to ‘opt in’ for future jury service – even for a limited time only. Local judiciary courts across the UK could summon individuals in this age-bracket to serve as jury members at their local magistrates.
The idea could be more pragmatic than initially imagined. According to Cheryl Thomas, professor of Judicial Studies at UCL – who is also the leading expert on juries and was previously commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to investigate jury representation and fairness in jury decision making in 2010 – younger jurors between the ages of 18-29 – 49% were more capable of understanding legal instructions and retaining better comprehension directions on the law than older jurors.
“younger serving jury members would possess more time to dispense sitting on a jury”
It can also be assumed that younger serving jury members would possess more time to dispense sitting on a jury. Young people are, generally, less likely to have family to support and are most likely to be more physically and mentally agile. Thus, it may make more sense for local judiciary courts to summon a larger proportion of 18-25 year olds to jury service.
Is Legislation Changing?
On the other hand, legislation is being planned to increase the upper age limit of jurors from 70 to 75. Jury selection additionally depends on the electoral register and according to Great Britain’s Electoral Register 2011, 56% of adults aged between 18-24 registered to vote, whereas approximately 90% of over 65s registered. In this case, younger adults were then less likely to be summoned for jury service.
It can be also be argued that it is the older jurors who possess the life experience and hardships that come with age, so could it be that magistrates’ courts across the country will see a rise in older jurors instead?
“Covid-19 has more or less ravaged the criminal justice system”
Whatever the outcome, the fact remains that local judiciary systems, local councils, and indeed the government should seriously consider launching such a scheme to entice more young adults to not only register to vote, but to serve as jury members for their area for a limited period in the year.
The skills and overall experience they would gain in a reasonably short amount of time would contribute substantially to their CVs and future applications.
Of course, Covid-19 has more or less ravaged the criminal justice system and courts up and down the UK have witnessed a dramatic reduction in court cases coming to trial. Jury selection has always been random, but in this current climate, is it really fair to be random?
Anandi Shah
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