The Law Handbook 2024

24 Section 1: Understanding our laws and courts Questions or concerns can be emailed to the Jury Commissioner. (For the Jury Commissioner’s contact details, see ‘Contacts’ at the end of this chapter.) Key legislation Jury service in Victoria is governed by the Juries Act 2000 (Vic) (‘ Juries Act ’). All references to legislation in this section refer to the Juries Act unless otherwise stated. Kinds of jury service • Criminal juries consist of 12 people who decide whether a person on trial in the County Court or Supreme Court is guilty or not guilty. When a criminal trial is expected to be lengthy, there can be up to 15 people on the jury. If necessary, at the end of a trial, and before the jury retires to consider its verdict, the jury can be reduced by ballot to 12 people. • Civil juries determine what compensation or damages (if any) a person should receive. A civil jury consists of six people but can (in some cases) be increased to eight people. If necessary, at the end of a civil trial, a ballot can be conducted to reduce the jury to six people. For detailed information about jury service, visit the Juries Victoria website (www.juriesvictoria.vic.gov.au) . Who can serve on a jury? Every person aged 18 years or above who is enrolled to vote for the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council of Victoria (i.e. the Victorian Government) can serve on a jury in Victoria. This is unless a person is: • disqualified from jury service; or • ineligible for jury service (s 5). Who is disqualified from jury service? People who are disqualified from jury service are set out in the Juries Act (sch 1) and include those who: • within the past two years have been sentenced for an offence by a court; • within the past two years have been convicted or found guilty of an offence and placed on an undertaking to the court; • at any time have been convicted of one or more indictable offences and sentenced to a total of three years or more in prison; • within the past five years have been in prison for less than three months; or served an intensive correction order, suspended sentence or sentence at a youth training centre; or served a community based order or a community corrections order; • within the past 10 years have been in prison for more than three months (excluding any imprison­ ment for failure to pay a fine) or have been on parole; • are on bail for an indictable offence; • are remanded in custody; • are undischarged bankrupts. Who is ineligible for jury service? People who are ineligible for jury service are set out in the Juries Act (sch 2) and include those who are, or who in the past 10 years have been: • a judge, magistrate or holder of a judicial office; • a bail justice; • admitted to legal practice as an Australian lawyer; • a member of the police force; • an ombudsman or an employee of an ombudsman. Also included as ineligible under schedule 2 of the Juries Act are people who: • are employed in connection with a legal practice by a person admitted to practice law as an Australian lawyer; • have a physical disability that prevents them from performing jury service duties;* • are patients within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic); • have an intellectual disability within the meaning of the Disability Act 2006 (Vic); • are under a guardianship or administration order; • are unable to communicate in, or adequately understand, English. * The Victorian Law Reform Commission has pub­ lished recommendations for reform to allow people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have low vision to serve on juries. These recommendations were completed on 30 July 2022 for the government’s consideration. For more information, see www. lawreform.vic.gov.au/project/inclusive-juries .