5 Things I learnt from jury service
In the summer of 2021 I was part of a jury at St Alban’s Crown Court. We listened to witnesses, lawyers and judges and after considering all the evidence found the defendant guilty on all charges of sexual assault, assault by penetration and rape.
Throughout the process I learnt the following general lessons for life:
The average person does not understand the law or their rights very well. The victim in our case didn’t even know she had been raped according to the Sexual Offences Act 2003. For more information have a look around on GOV.UK
Many crimes are related to alcohol misuse. After my service I gave up drinking (for two months)
Every action has consequences. These actions and words become very black and white when scrutinised in the light of day e.g questions such as, did you (defendant’s name) insert your finger into the vagina of (vitim’s name) on the morning of June 21st at 1.20am
Technology is being used more and more to solve crimes. The text messages on your phone can be looked at by the police, videos taken of you from CCTV (which is everywhere) are played to the whole court and the messages you send are read aloud. Always think before you do.
If you are ever involved in a potential crime remember as many details; times, dates, names as you can. It could determine your future as well as that of others.
