Serving on a jury often gives people a sense of pride in fulfilling their civic duty. For others, however, jury duty only offers lingering feelings of stress. Reports have revealed that jury duty causes stress levels to rise for about eighty percent of all jurors, ten percent of whom experience extremely high levels of stress. In this context, juror stress can manifest itself as an emotional or physical reaction to jury service. A juror might experience symptoms such as anxiety, depression, nightmares and sleeplessness, stomachaches, headaches, chest pain, ulcers, elevated blood pressure, or shortness of breath. And in extreme situations, former jurors are at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Juror stress can be traced to a variety of causes in both criminal and civil cases, a few common triggers are mentioned below.
Disruptions to daily routine
Receiving a summons in the mail is enough to bring on a bout of stress. A summons represents an interruption in a person’s life, forcing him or her to rearrange, postpone, or simply cancel any prior commitments on their calendar. Being selected to sit on a jury is likely to cause some level of disruption to a juror’s daily routine, whether it be work related, family-related, or otherwise. This is especially true for lengthy trials. In this way, trying to juggle various obligations leads to heightened levels of stress.
Trial evidence and testimony
Often times, the type of information presented to a jury at trial is cause for concern. Stress caused by evidence and testimony is likely to be more prevalent in criminal trials, particularly so for gruesome or violent crimes. A juror may be exposed to graphic materials, such as a bloody murder weapon or photographs of a crime scene or victim. Additionally, listening to witness testimony containing graphic descriptions can contribute to juror stress. It can be extremely difficult for a juror to take in such disturbing evidence and testimony.
Isolation
Many people relieve stress by talking it out with others, but this may not be an option for a juror. In any given case, a jury could be sequestered or under the judges’ instruction not to talk about any aspect of the case. Cutting off lines of communication can make a juror feel isolated, prompting feelings of stress and anxiety. For example, when it comes to cases that involve gruesome evidence and testimony, a juror is unable to talk to anyone about the traumatic things they are seeing, hearing, and feeling. Jurors are forced to keep any distress bottled-up and festering.
Heavy burden of responsibility or guilt
Merely acknowledging the purpose of a jury and the role an individual juror plays can be a major source of stress. Jurors endure enormous amounts of pressure during the trial, deliberations and after delivery of the verdict. Jurors may be extremely cognizant of the fact that a verdict will dictate another human being’s entire life, a pill that is hard to swallow. There is a huge burden of responsibility, and even guilt, that comes with the delivery of a verdict and this weighs heavily on jurors long after the trial is over.
At the end of the day, serving on a jury can be detrimental to an individual’s mental health. For some, the detriment is manageable, but for others it is overwhelming. Addressing the stress caused by jury duty is necessary because juror stress influences society’s perception and attitude towards jury service. More important, stress can alter the way in which an individual makes a decision. This is significant because the very foundation of a trial by jury is the decision-making process. Perhaps feelings of stress and anxiety are an inevitable consequence of jury duty, but at what cost?
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