Law Reform Commission of Ireland Report on Juries

The Law Reform Commission of Ireland last week issued a Consultation Paper on Jury Service.

The paper proposes a number of changes to jury practices in that country:

• the existing blanket excusal from jury service of many professionals and public servants should be replaced by an individualised excusal "for good cause"
• no person should be prohibited from jury service on the basis of physical disability alone; and that reasonable accommodation be put in place for hearing-and-visually impaired jurors to assist them in undertaking the duties of a juror
• the Commission questions whether the number of objections to jurors without the need to give any reason for both the prosecution and the defence ("peremptory challenges") should be reduced
  
• the Courts Service should provide to jurors information explaining whythey should not carry out independent investigations or Internet searches about a case and should limit their decision to the evidence presented in court

The paper looks at the history of jury selection and compares the practices in Ireland with those of many other jurisdictions such as Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand.