Feeble excuses used to avoid jury

By VICKI WATERHOUSE
Seven out of every 10 Bay people called for jury duty are being let off the hook by using the "limpest and lamest excuses".
The jury system is today under fire from Bay lawyers reacting to figures released to the Bay of Plenty Times that show 70 per cent of locals are being excused from jury duty before even getting to court.
Barrister Ned Burke said it was becoming too easy for prospective jurors to opt out.
"Very often they give the limpest and lamest excuses."
The figures show 69.5 per cent (or 11,205 people) called for jury duty in the Bay last year applied to be excused.
Virtually all of them were let off, with only 0.5 per cent (82 people) being made to turn up.
The most common excuses involved not being able to take time off work, the need to care for family members, old age and poor health.
Mr Burke said the statistics were disappointing and people had a democratic duty to serve on juries. But despite that he did not believe the type of people who ended up being jurors were inadequate.
"I think it's phenomenal really when you get 12 people together and they're absolutely ready to work in unison and come up with a rational, reasonable judgment, regardless of [each juror's] background or education."
Mr Burke pointed out if a person served on a jury trial that ran for one week they would then be excused from any further service for the rest of their lives.
Top Tauranga defence lawyer Paul Mabey QC said serving on a jury was something that people needed to take seriously.
"It's trial by your peers and you need a broad cross section of society. You can't just have the people that are available ... that have nothing better to do."
Mr Mabey said he did not believe jurors should be paid for serving because it was their civic duty and the justice system could not function without jurors.
"I don't think that it's a valid excuse to say that you'd lose wages or money because jury service is a duty, it's not a job," he said. "It happens rarely in a person's life."
Justice Ministry district courts general manager Tony Fisher said each request to be excused was considered on its merits. Jurors were paid $62 a day, or $31 a half-day, were given meals and could claim mileage, child care and parking expenses. He said when each application to be excused was received, registrars followed guidelines in the Juries Act 1981.
"Registrars will only excuse those with a good reason," he said.
Mr Fisher said the lack of attendance had been noted by the Government and it was working to improve the problem of the high excusal rate.
"The Government, via the Criminal Procedure Bill, is looking at a number of ways to increase attendance; including penalties for employers who make attendance difficult for their staff, increasing fees and allowances for jurors and increasing the fine for non-attendance where there is not a good reason for the absence," he said.
Mr Fisher said the random nature of the summons process was designed to encourage an appropriate level of diversity among jurors.
The fine for failing to attend jury service without real cause or wilfully neglecting to do service when called upon was $300 but it was not a criminal offence.