Post-Traumatic Jury Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that is triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event, and people, such as jurors, can experience trauma from second-hand exposure to traumatic situations. 

A recent study shows that jury duty can lead to side effects consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Gruesome/graphic evidence, emotionally disturbing evidence profound empathy for victim, past trauma, guilt over verdict, sequestration, etc. can all lead to traumatic stress symptoms that result in these long-term side effects consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, such as intrusive thoughts/memories, flashbacks, insomnia, nightmares, etc. 

According to the study, 28% of jurors stress derived from courtroom procedures, 24% derived from emotions, 17% derived from the verdict, 17% derived from the jury charge/deliberation, and 14% derived from evidence itself.

In accordance with the study, one juror reported that jury duty is stressful, especially in criminal cases. She sat in a two-week homicide trial with a defendant that had admitted to the horrendous facts of killing a man and wrapping him up in a carpet. Her stress mostly stemmed from seeing the dark side of human behavior and not being able to talk to anyone about her thoughts or feelings regarding the case. 

Another juror, who sat in a trial for the sexual assault of a fourteen-year old girl and saw graphic sexual testimony, said that she felt like she “wasn’t mentally prepared for the graphic descriptions of the sex . . . and [she] wasn’t prepared for the emotions of [the] young girl on the stand.” Ultimately, the jury found the defendant not guilty. After the trial, she realized they probably made the wrong decision. She “cried a lot” and even reached out to a fellow juror who also claimed to have been haunted by their decision. 

EFFORTS TO REDUCE JUROR STRESS: 

Efforts to reduce juror stress are being implemented at the discretion of judges, and many courts have implemented some procedures to reduce juror stress. However, I do not think that sporadic procedures are enough. I believe it should be mandatory for courts to offer all of the following: 

1. Pre-trial conversations with jurors: judges/attorneys should educate jurors about the potential to experience stress-related symptoms. It has been found that an educated juror is able to better manage their levels of stress while on jury duty. 
2. Post-verdict debriefing: judges should give jurors the opportunity to discuss their experiences and emotions. Studies have found that jurors, especially those in highly disturbing cases, have appreciated post-verdict counseling. 
3. Post-trial counseling: if requested, judges should offer jurors a series of free counseling to allow them to walk through their experience and unload it. This is essential for the jurors who do not quickly realize of their post-traumatic jury stress disorder. 

Jurors are human too and post-traumatic jury stress disorder is a real thing. We need to think seriously about designing appropriate resources for jurors that are duty-bound to serve the court.