Juror Mental Health Must Remain a Priority After Liverpool Crown Court Pilot Ends

The pilot scheme in 14 Crown Courts across the country, including Liverpool where jurors were offered support and free counselling sessions

Transcript

00:00Specialised mental health support for jurors should be made readily available across the

00:04country according to the British Psychological Society.

00:08The representative body for psychologists and psychology in the UK continues to be concerned

00:13that jurors who are exposed to distressing evidence in court, sometimes over several

00:18months, are particularly at risk.

00:21Jurors can potentially go without psychological support throughout a case and can be dropped

00:25at the end of their service with no support available.

00:29The call comes after the pilot scheme in 14 Crown Courts across the country, which included

00:34Liverpool, concluded last month, where jurors in the most traumatic cases were offered 24-7

00:41support and free counselling sessions for the first time.

00:46Research from psychologists at Manchester Metropolitan University, published in the British Journal

00:51of Psychology, found a fourfold increase in post-traumatic stress symptoms in jurors who'd

00:56witnessed upsetting evidence.

00:58Within the study, 44% of participants that were shown a murder case summary and evidence

01:03of skeletal remains reported signs of PTSD seven days later.

01:08Jurors who are often exposed to material that could result in vicarious trauma are currently

01:12signposted to their GP to access NHS talking therapies and the Samaritans should they experience

01:18distress or mental health difficulties following their jury service.

01:22However, with waiting lists for NHS mental health services rising all the time, the British

01:26Psychological Society is urging the government to provide more efficient psychological support

01:32for jurors and a nationwide rollout of their pilot scheme.

01:36Such support, they say, should at the very least be provided when cases meet a certain threshold

01:42for evidence jurors are expected to consider.