Jury's Out

 

I was supposed to have my first experience of jury service this week. Having blocked out my diary for a fortnight as required, I reported dutifully at the Crown Court at 8.30 on Monday morning. The waiting room was soon packed with almost two hundred people, most of whom were slowly but relatively surely allocated to particular courtrooms.

Sitting juries went back to trials which started last week, new ones were randomly distributed among the remaining courtrooms, initially in groups of 16 before being whittled down to 12. The waiting room gradually grew less crowded as trials got underway but plenty of people were still there when my group was told we could go out for lunch.

When we came back, we sat around until 3.30 when a Jury Officer gathered us together to say there were “complications” in the case and we could go home and should return tomorrow at 10 a.m.

On Tuesday, other than a roll call on arrival, there was no communication with my group until noon when we were told we could go home. Our trial was apparently “ineffective”, but they couldn’t say more.

Wednesday saw a more promising start as we were reallocated to a trial in a different courtroom. We would be needed for two to three days- maybe stretching into early next week. An hour or so later we were summoned to sit in the assembly area for those about to go into court. Our time had seemingly come.

Sadly not. Two trials scheduled for our new courtroom had “cracked” – in one the defendant had pleaded guilty, in the other they hadn’t turned up.

We could go home- and much to our surprise were told our service was now over. Apparently, sometimes they summon more people than they need and have spares.  We were told how to complete our expenses forms and that we won’t have to do jury service again for two years. As one of the spares, I headed home to complete my expenses.  

Although I met some interesting people, it hasn’t been the most satisfying of experiences. I’ve no idea how typical it is. I may just have been unlucky.

Lord Leveson’s review of the courts is looking at “how processes through charge to conviction/acquittal could be improved to maximise efficiency. This includes looking at the processes of the courts but also those of partner agencies in the criminal justice system which affect the efficiency of the criminal courts”.

I don’t know if he’ll consider the experience of jurors at all. I for one hope he does.

Reviewing the Situation

 

When New Labour came to power in 1997, they brought with them a raft of detailed plans for reform in many areas of domestic policy. In criminal justice, the most striking example was the radical proposals for strengthening the response to youth crime at national and local level. Within a few months, the government started to put these into practice often favouring local testing before a national rollout.  I remember joking in a talk that the new government had more pilots than British Airways.

27 years on, Keir Starmer’s team appear to have very few oven ready measures to implement. In criminal justice at least, what’s being offered are not worked up ideas for reform capable of implementation - but a series of reviews designed to produce the ideas. More reviews, one might say, than Tripadvisor.

Yes, last year’s election came sooner than anyone expected, but in contrast to the Blair government, there seems little in the way of a proactive agenda crafted during the long years in opposition. The one welcome exception is the creation of the Women’s Justice Board which has been set up to reduce the number of women in prison.

To be fair the Labour Manifesto did promise two reviews – on sentencing and on probation governance. The first is underway. Given its enormous scope, tight timescale and the unpromising political climate on law and order, David Gauke’s task in curbing sentence inflation looks someway between daunting and forlorn.

Another herculean task faces Sir Brian Leveson who has been asked to review the criminal courts. Like Gauke, the terms of reference are wide, the issues both complex and fundamental and the deadline short. He is expected to do much of the work of the Royal Commission on the Criminal justice Process promised by the Conservatives in 2019 but not delivered in any way, shape or form.  

In addition to these two mammoth exercises, separate reviews are underway on the effectiveness of the Youth Justice Board and how girls under 18 in custody should be accommodated. There has been a commitment to review the Single Justice Procedure although this may fall in Leveson’s remit.

There is nothing so far on probation governance although the Justice Secretary has set out what she terms her vision for the service. The Justice Select Committee has asked interesting questions about the potential for English devolution and the steps being taken to advise probation services on the various options available to them in newly devolved local administrations and combined authorities.

While there is a case that Labour should have given more thought to all of these matters before the election, few would disagree with the need for improvements to be made and that reviews could kickstart the process. I’m not convinced that can be said about the latest review to be announced.

Anne Owers will be looking at why prison supply and demand did not meet and make recommendations that may help future governments avoid the cycle of repeated prison capacity crises.  

I am not sure how much this will add to the sum of human happiness.

The National Audit Office and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee have already been looking at how Government is modelling, understanding and planning for the number and type of prison places it needs. The Gauke and Leveson reviews aim to address the substantive reasons for the 2023-24 crisis.

I can only think that this latest exercise is designed to remind the public how badly the last government managed the system in case the current one struggles do much better.