Jury duty concerns need to be addressed
THE EDITOR, Madam:
ADIDJA ‘VYBZ Kartel’ Palmer’s appeal in the Privy Council was reverted to the local appeal court, primarily due to an issue regarding jury contamination.
This brings us to the issue of jury treatment and compensation. A juror is paid a meagre sum of $2,000 per day to serve. It should be noted that jurors have to find money for lunch and transportation daily while a case continues at court. In some instances, the cost of transportation alone can be $2,000 per day. The situation gets even worse, as they are not given the stipend daily but have to wait until the end of the case to get paid, which can take a while. It can be noted that there are students who get $2,000 pocket money daily from their parents to cover lunch and transportation.
This only stands to push potential jurors away. The fine for not responding to jury duty without a justifiable reason can be community service, or a fine of up to $10,000 or 30 days in prison. Failure to do the community service, if ordered, is a fine of $50,000. While the job of a juror is a citizen’s civic duty to their country, the treatment associated with working as a juror should be fair. Jury duty should not make an individual worse off for doing it.
Persons who are on daily wages have no guarantee that they can go back to their job when a case is finish. This is in spite of Section 12(19-A) of the Jury Act, which states that employer should not threaten employees with dismissal, or cause them to lose any revenue during the period. Persons have suffered lost or reduced income, all because they were summoned to serve their country.
The minister of justice, Delroy Chuck, while speaking at the Standing Finance Committee early last month, mentioned that a submission was made to the finance ministry to deal with the low stipend. However, we don’t know long it will take to revise the stipend and how much it will be.
Many Jamaicans go to great lengths to find or fabricate reasons to excuse them from serving as jurors. This is because, in addition to the low stipend, many people are fearful of possible reprisals for convicting persons to prison sentence; and in Jamaica it’s a valid concern. The Vybz Kartel case has brought many things to light, and until the issues are addressed, citizens will continue to scorn jury duty like a sore foot.
HEZEKAN BOLTON h_e_z_e@hotmail.com