What I learned this week, about jury duty

I’ve been on jury duty the last couple of weeks:

• The jury’s job is to deliver a verdict, not to deliver justice. I hadn’t thought of this before, but we only get to say yes or no, guilty or innocent. We don’t get to show mercy, or explain ourselves. Fortunately the judge gets to do that bit instead. The separation of verdict and sentence was a smart move.

• Jury duty is at least 80% waiting around. I am grateful for the warning to bring a book.

• Community forms very quickly on a jury. Everyone knows everyone else by the second day.

• It costs £6,000 a day to run one of the six courtrooms at Luton Crown Court.