Llewellyn hopeful stipend for jurors will be increased
... but DPP cautions jury duty not an occupation to earn a living
Published:Friday | January 13, 2023 | 1:01 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn has expressed hope that the stipend being paid to jurors will soon be examined with a view to increasing the amount to encourage more persons to serve.
At the start of the Hilary Term in the Home Circuit Court this week, Llewellyn lamented the chronic shortage of jurors affecting the justice system, calling for an examination of the process of selecting and serving jurors. She said the crisis was now at the worst she has seen it in years.
At a Rotary Club of Kingston luncheon at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Thursday, Llewellyn expressed confidence that Justice Minister Delroy Chuck and other stakeholders would bat for an increase in the stipend, noting that it was one issue resulting in Jamaicans’ apathy to performing their civic duty when called to serve as jurors.
“I was at a function yesterday and this morning early with the minister of justice, and it would seem to me – and I would not be talking out of turn – that that is something that they will be looking at,” Llewellyn told Rotarians.
“It really is the purview of the Court Administration Division that runs the courts to make the recommendation, but I feel sure that that will be done, and ... Minister Chuck is very proactive and he’s not afraid to speak to the stakeholders, so I suspect that it will percolate and the policymakers would not hesitate to increase [the amount]. The question is, By how much?,” she continued.
Jurors currently receive a stipend of $2,000 per day, after moving up from $500 in 2015.
“Coupled with the growing disinterest of citizens in civic activities, the low stipend provided for jurors has put the justice system in a bind. Numerous jury trials, which account for a vast majority of trials in the circuit court across parishes have been delayed due to a lack of jurors,” Opposition Spokesperson on Justice Donna Scott-Mottley said on Tuesday, weighing in on the matter.
She urged Chuck to increase the stipend and not wait for the Court Administration Division to determine whether the $2,000 is sufficient, arguing that inflation has eroded the value of that amount compared to when it was last increased more than seven years ago.
On Thursday, Llewellyn reminded Jamaicans that serving as jurors was their civic duty and not a job.
“Jury duty is not an occupation for you to earn a living. ... It is just unfortunate that we have a situation where transportation costs, rightly so, have gone up. ... It really needs to be reviewed, but even if it is reviewed, as far as I am concerned, remember, what a juror is being asked to do - after hearing the evidence and the directions being heard from the judge - is to use their common sense to assess the evidence and to come to a verdict in respect of guilt or innocence,” Llewellyn said.
“I think there is something unseemly about the thought of paying a juror a whole bag of money as if to say it is their occupation. No, it is not. The stipend is to see to their day-to-day expenses, which is transportation and, perhaps, refreshment at lunchtime,” the DPP added.