Jury Duty Appreciation Week highlights vital yet undervalued role

An acknowledgement of the ‘unsung heroes’ of the justice system - the jurors - is being spearheaded by psychologists at Manchester Met who research the potentially devastating mental health implications of this challenging public service role.

The UK’s first Jury Duty Appreciation Week (6^th - 12^th May) aims to officially thank jurors for the part they play in the justice system, highlight the value of jury duty, and encourage specialist wellbeing support for jurors - 50% of whom experience signs of post-trial trauma such as nightmares, intrusive memories, and sleep disturbances.

Alongside Manchester Met’s partners the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, British Psychological Society, Canadian Juries Commission, the University of Leicester and wellbeing provider CiC, the campaign week calls for policy reform to enable all jurors to access timely specialist mental health support.

Around 350,000 people are called up for jury duty each year in England and Wales. Manchester Met’s ongoing psychology research shows a fourfold increase in signs of PTSD amongst jurors following short term exposure to murder case materials.

However, in England and Wales jurors are afforded no specialist wellbeing support either before, during or after trials - with official approaches to juror mental health support consisting solely of signposting to the Samaritans and their GP.

The team behind Jury Duty Appreciation Week believe juror wellbeing should be at the heart of criminal justice practice and policy, and that all jurors should have access to specialist wellbeing support to help them manage the challenging mental health aspects of the role.

As well as taking part in a social media campaign (#thankajuror), the Manchester Met researchers will be displaying posters and giving out stickers across Manchester Met’s campus and outside Manchester city centre courts, by way of an official public display of appreciation for the role of jurors.

Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology Dr Hannah Fawcett said: “Jurors are such a valuable part of the criminal justice system. Our ongoing research highlights this can be a difficult role. Jury Duty Appreciation Week is our chance to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all jurors - past, present, and future - for your tremendous hard work and dedication in creating a safe and fair society for us all.”

Former juror Joe Ahearne is lending his support to the campaign, having personally experienced the challenging aspects of the role. He said: “Jury duty was one of the most difficult experiences of my life and there was no help to deal with it. I hope Jury Duty Appreciation Week will start to change that.”

Ongoing Manchester Met research in this area due to be published in the next few months highlights, amongst other findings, the significant mental health implications on jurors of viewing skeletal remains and witnessing other distressing oral and visual evidence.

The researchers aim to use the research findings to work with legal and healthcare policy makers to ensure that trauma-informed practices can be adopted that are supportive of juror mental health.

President-Elect of the British Psychological Society, Dr Roman Raczka, added: “We want to see proper psychological support available during and after trials to ensure a better experience for all within the criminal justice system.”

For the last few years an annual Jury Duty Appreciation Week has been held in Canada and in US states including Texas and Missouri during the same week, however this is the first time the campaign has been held in the UK. Mark Farrant, founder and CEO of the Canadian Juries Commission, said: “Jurors perform an enormous service on behalf of the justice system and the community. Without jurors there would be no justice.

“The Canadian Juries Commission is honoured to be participating in Jury Duty Appreciation Week in the UK and sends our deepest thanks to jurors past and present.”

Find out more about Jury Duty Appreciation Week (6^th – 12^th May) here: Jury Duty Appreciation Week 2024 - Courtroom Wellbeing (mmu.ac.uk)