Widening the jury pool: Consultation

The Northern Ireland Court Service on 29 May 2008, published the above document for a fourteen-week period of public consultation. The document is available below.

The subject of the consultation is the proposal that the pool of people eligible for jury service should be widened in order that juries can be more truly representative of society, thereby improving confidence in the justice system as a whole. In summary, this would be achieved by changing the law so that no-one would be automatically ineligible for, or excusable from, jury service simply because of their job. A new system of discretionary deferral and excusal, applicable to everyone, would be introduced.  The paper invites Consultees views on specific aspects of the proposals.

The full details of the policy proposals are contained in the consultation paper, which you are encouraged to read.

A questionnaire is also available below which will assist in compiling your response. 

- Letter to Consultees

- Consultation Paper

- Consultation Response Questionnaire

- Equality Screening Exercise & Impact Assessment

Copies of the consultation document are also available from the Court Service’s Information Centre at Windsor House (contact details below) and can be made available in other accessible formats or minority languages on request. 

The closing date for receipt of comments is 4th September 2008.

Should you wish to discuss this policy proposal, please contact the consultation co-ordinator. 

If you require any further information please contact:

Cathy Scollan

Consultation Co-ordinator

Northern Ireland Court Service

Information Centre

Windsor House

9-15 Bedford Street

BELFAST

BT2 7LT

Telephone:    (028) 9041 2386

Email:  communicationsgroup@courtsni.gov.uk